Harry Potter and the unnatural blue eyes
by ValorieJueles
Summary: Harry Potter's Daughter comes back to the beginning of his first year to try and change what happens to everyone. She is helped by the humorous Fate, who has decided he made a few mistakes. Together they set out to unscrew up the world. HG, HrR, ta.
1. Well, this sucks

**I heart cliches... I also can't spell that word... Okay, I'm really sorry world, but I just absolutely love the someone goes back in time and makes everything better/ messes everything up fics! The only ones I hate are when people go back and nothing changes... WASTE OF MY TIME! Yeah, well anyway, now that I've bored you all into oblivion, lets start the story on a sad note. I swear guys, I'm not emo!**

**And btw, yes, indeed, I do own the world of Harry Potter. There. So sue me. Like you don't already have enough Ms. I'm-richer-than-the-queen-of-england-and-am-still-pissed-opra-beat-me-out-for-number-1. Anywho, I'm just kidding, yada yada yada, insert disclaimer here so fanfiction doesn't get sued and on with the story!**

Nessy Potter's flyaway black hair fell in a mess over her head as she bent over the crumpled body of her father. Tears falling from her notoriously dry eyes, she cradled his head on her lap, and gently traced the lightning scar upon his head.

"Nes..?"slurred Harry Potter, as he tried with his last glimpse of consciousness to grasp what was going on.

"Shush, Dad, it's me. You won, Daddy, it's all over, and now you get to sleep. You've been really tired and now you can sleep. No one you need to protect anymore Dad, It's over." Her quiet voice cracked slightly, and her bright emerald eyes shimmered liquidly as she tried to reassure her dying father, her trembling words gently trying to comfort the man who'd cared for her by himself through worse times than anyone should ever have to face. Who'd managed to keep her sane growing up in the heart of the war. Who'd given himself so completely to the task fate gave him, that he would never even see the world recover. He would die right here, the scene of his last battle.

And when this noble, driven man looked with slightly confused eyes, into the eyes of his daughter, his own eyes really, for one last time, he smiled slightly.

"Me' mums eyes..." he grinned, and then he closed his own and slipped away, that same sloppy grin upon his face.

Nessy felt her heart crack open along old fault lines as the last of anyone who had cared for her went the way of the rest. Dead. She sobbed, and pulled her father closer, hugging him tightly, unable to let go. Not Dad. Anyone but him. She giggled horribly at that, until her mirth caught in the base of her throat and became an almost indistinguishable sob. It already had been everyone but him. Her mother before she could remember. Her mother's brother when she was eight, his wife the year before that. Great Uncle Remus just six months ago. His wife that same day. Everyone was gone, the entire lot of them. She couldn't bring herself to relive anymore. Such a lot of grief to fit in such a small girl. Only eleven.

Nessy didn't know how long she stood, rocking and sobbing with her father in her arms, but after ages of what felt like minutes to her, she calmed. Her head had the calm swirling of someone who had cried her way numb. She didn't bother to wipe the tears away, but pulled the strands of her black hair off her face where they had been stuck by her wet tears. She took a shuddering breath and released her father, laying him gently on the dusty rug. She looked around.

The Hogwarts library hadn't had visitors for years, not since it closed when she was seven, the same year Auntie Hermione died. She was the last teacher who would teach there. The rest were too scared.

Now, books were littered everywhere, filling the space with a haphazard completeness that Nessy rather liked. Any other time, she might have found a room almost filled to the top with jumbled books intriguing, but considering it was the site of her father's death, the effect was lost on her. She got up quietly, caught in the spell of the swirling dust caught in the rays of bright sunshine from the window. The silent hush that all libraries have the power to project onto their occupants. Even destroyed ones.

With careful steps, she picked her way around the piles of books, passing the handsome black haired man that lay across from her father without a glance. She couldn't bring herself to see Tom Riddle, death having brought back humanity to his features. She thought if she looked her delicate calm tilt, and she would simply explode with the feeling of it. Now she was looking, just looking for the one thing that might, just might make all this right. And then she saw it.

A book, with a cover that mimicked the night sky as it was two thousand years before. It was charmed the same night that the great hall was, and by the same person.

This was Godric Griffindor's book, the only one of his that had survived the years. It had spent them unobtrusively in the farthest, darkest corner of the restricted section, where even Madame Pince hadn't thought to look, smushed against the back of the shelf by two rather nasty books that no one liked to touch if they could help it. And their it had spent the greater part of two thousand years, until a little over fifty years ago, when a boy with rather nasty thoughts had finally removed those two rather nasty books to perform some rather nasty rituals. And so Tom Riddle discovered what the old, dusty book was, and decided it would make a lovely addition to his collection of horcruxes.

Now Nessy walked up to the book and picked it up. It was in two pieces, ripped right down the middle, as if it had been a spare piece of paper and not a thick volume. Her dad's work, of course. But now the most important thing about this book wasn't that it had once been a horcrux, but that it might have information she could use.

Clearing a spot against the wall, she sat down amidst the heaps of books, and sit cross legged with the two halves of the book side by side on the ground. She took a deep breath, that caught a little in her throat, but managed to shudder its way out her mouth again without her bursting into tears. She looked at the broken book. There was no danger in it anymore. Voldemort was dead.

With a dizzy feeling of foreboding, Nessy opened the bottom half, and began searching for the page number she'd found before. 623. Some of the pages were out of order, she assumed this was because of Voldemort's influence, but for all she knew Griffindor was just a highly eccentric person. Finally she found it, and leaving it open to that page, switched to the other half. When she opened it she choked, her forehead knitting in a sad mix of hopeless frustration with the book, and her carefully contained emotions sloshing over the edges. The top had no page numbers.

After a painstaking hour or so of searching, she turned the page and smiled at the heading that greeted her, the relief of a desperate girl who had found something to cling to washing over her.

**The Risky Art of Changing What Has Already Happened, Why it Might have Already Happened and We Wouldn't Know it, and Why it May Yet Happen and We Wouldn't Know it.**

Nessy's green eyes lit with a fire as she read this. Hope flooded from the wordy title to every inch of her. Time Travel. Thats what the page was talking about. She could do it. She could go back.

She frowned, and dove into the page with a determination to understand every little bit of it. There was a slight delay when she turned the page and found that the bottom of the second page was out of order and she had to flip through for five minutes or so before she found it (it wasn't very far off). She sighed with relief when she found that it was a potion not a spell that sent her back. She had been brewing potions since she was old enough to beg instruction, as it was something useful that her father thought might keep her out of more dangerous pastimes, such as trying to get involved in fights with death eaters. Spells, on the other hand, she only knew the basics of. Even though the Ministry fell when she was six, and would have done little to enforce the underage magic laws before then since they had bigger problems, the wizarding community had certain conventions they always kept. One was to not teach a kid to use a wand until they were mature enough to handle it.

Twisting clumsily out of her cross legged position and getting to her feet, Nessy put one half of the book under each arm and waded straight through the books this time, no dancing around them for her. She tried not to look at the black haired bodies to her right as she headed for the door. She'd go straight to the dungeons and start. If they had all the ingredients, then she'd be in her father's first year in three months. That should give her time to prepare herself, create a person for her to pretend to be, all that jazz. She needed money as well. She'd already decided on his first year. That was when it all really started, and when she would be able to get close to him, because he'd be her age. She knew she couldn't save her grandparents. As much as it would have meant to her father, they had to die, or even more people would. She shuddered to think how many more would have been lost if her father had never been marked.

Yes, she could devise a plan in three months, while her potion stewed, and then she'd see her father again. Her eyes automatically drifted to the huddled lump in the corner. Her mind seemed about to break when a strong voice took over. _You can have him back._ It said. But it won't really be him, she responded to the voice in her head. It'll be him when he was young, not a father. _Does it matter? _Responded the voice._ You don't have to save him for yourself. Do this so that the man who gave so much to you and this world can have a better life. And the same for so many others. _Nessy's eye's hardened with determination. She'd save his life. After all, he'd saved hers more times than she could count.

She was almost at the door, when a voice sounded behind her.

"So you intend to go back Nochless Potter?"

This was so completely unexpected that Nessy nearly fell down. She was stopped by a pile of books that already happened to be in the space she should have fallen into. She turned with apprehension, hoping against God that it wasn't a remaining death eater, or Voldemort still alive. But it was just a boy, her age perhaps, sitting atop on of the bookshelves that leaned against the wall.

"Who are you?" She asked with caution. She'd grown up in a war, and having talked often with a certain Alastor Moody, knew that even small boys needed to be seen as potential threats. But this one seemed alright. Besides the fact that he couldn't possibly have climbed to that perch without notice, or indeed even entered the sea of books without leaving a trail, and thus couldn't possibly be where he was, he was a completely ordinary looking boy. He had dusty looking straight brown hair, dull grayish brown eyes, a rounded nose with a smattering of freckles, and wore simple tan robes that completed the altogether dull look of him. All in all, by the end of her careful evaluation, Nessy was positive this boy was the result of the ever widening crack in her sanity. She cast an unconscious look toward her father's body.

"'m no one." said the boy casually with a modest shrug, "do you intend to go back Nochless Potter?"

"Nessy" said a still shocked Nessy out of habit

"Nessy" repeated the boy with a grin on his face. Nessy couldn't help but notice it was a very friendly grin. And then she snapped out of it.

"Yeah, I am going back, so what's it to you?" she said defensively. She didn't think lying would get her far here.

"I'm here to try and stop y-"

"THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO STOP ME!" Screamed Nessy, her calm shattered by the spiraling hysteria which suddenly seemed to fill her. Who was he to stop her? Just because he could sneak into rooms really well and spy on what she was reading didn't make it his problem.

"What you're doing goes against fate. What gives you the right to mess around and play God? What's your excuse for that?" said the boy plainly. Sounded as if he was a telemarketer, asking questions for the latest survey. Thats how much emotion he put in his voice.

"Fate?" Nessy laughed in a way that lent strong evidence to that crack in her sanity. "Fate went against me. See him? That's my dad over there. Yes, he's dead. So's my mum, if you'd believe it. And all her brother's and their wives. And every single adult I've ever so much as thought about looking up to. So what gives Fate the right to mess with me? I'm going back kid, and you can't stop me."

The boy gave her a calculating look, though he still had a pleasant look on his face. Nessy was on the verge of breaking down, but that didn't mean she didn't mean what she said. It didn't mean that in five years, when this was all behind her, or as behind her as it could ever be, she wouldn't mean what she said.

"Okay." said the boy. "and what if I had the power to stop you?" He was anything but casual now. Now there was an air of power around him that was only made creepier by the fact that he seemed to be just a boy. Nessy got the distinct feeling that he did have the power to stop her.

"I'd go anyway." she said softly, and as dangerously as she could to match him. "And I'd give you all the hell I've got trying."

The boy saw the resolve in her eyes. He saw her stance. He saw her intentions in going back. And he smiled again.

"Okay" said the boy.

Nessy was flabbergasted, completely thrown off. "Okay?" she said confused and angry. Who was this boy? This was just too much for the day she was having.

"Okay!" said the boy happily, and he jumped nimbly off his perch on the bookshelf and landed gracefully on a patch of ground free of books.

And with that cryptic declaration, the library began to spin.

By the time it stopped, Nessy was so dizzy she didn't even notice that it had. The world just kept on spinning. She stumbled, and reached out for the pile of books she'd known was there a second before, but they had gone. Trying with all her power to see clearly what had happened, she sat down hard on the ground, closed her eyes, and waited for the spinning to stop. When it did, she still didn't open her eyes. Where did that maniac send me? She asked herself with horror. She didn't want to know, but when she opened her eyes, there was the library, except...

The books were on their shelves. The bodies had gone. It was altogether less dusty. The sun still shone from the same position through the window, but it seemed weaker, and when she looked she realized it was cloudy. What was going on?

She twisted on the floor and say the boy, standing right next to her, also looking out the window.

"It's not quite as pretty a day." he said simply, with regret in his voice.

"You are insane" said Nessy, just as simply. She'd come to the conclusion she was going insane as well, and seemed to be taking it quite well. Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that she was going insane.

Shaking off that feeling, she came up with something a little more productive to say. "What happened?"

"Well," explained the boy, still looking regretful that it was cloudy "I've brought you back to the summer before your father goes to Hogwarts. Enjoy." He made a move as if to leave, but Nessy grabbed his arm desperately.

"What! But you wanted to stop me! You were there to convince me not to go! Why turn around and bring me? I had the potion, I was going anyway, all you needed to do was... was... was nothing! I don't understand! Who are you?"

The boy chuckled, which didn't much improve Nessy's mood. "that potion is just a decoy. It doesn't work. If you want to change something, I have to help you. And for me to help you, you've got to prove you want it badly enough to do it in spite of me. Oh, and you need good intentions, you've got to be going back for somebody else, or to right one of my wrongs or something."

"What- But- so you were testing me! But how... wait your wrongs, what do you mean your wrongs! Who are you? O god my head is still spinning." Nessy hung still harder to his arm, begging him to answer her.

"'m fate" said the boy casually.

Nessy's jaw dropped, and she let go of his arm in shock. Through her amazement she managed to say, "Not what I expected you to look like."

"Yeah," said the plain boy, massaging the place on his arm where she grabbed him. "Thats the point."

"Wait! One more thing!" she yelled desperately as he went to go.

"What?" he asked.

Nessy slapped him as hard as he could, leaving a white hand on his face.

"What was that for?" Asked a hurt fate, massaging his jaw.

"You've been cruel to me" Said Nessy.

Fate looked down at the sad eleven year old sitting on the library floor, her eyes still read from crying.

"I'm trying to make it right" he said.

And then he was gone, leaving a shocked and out of place eleven year old sitting in the middle of an abandoned library, gapping at where he had just been.

"Bugger" she said as she sat, just waiting for the next thing to come and shatter her world.

**Whahoo! First chapter done! That was fun to write. I think I might continue this story even if no one reads it. But then I might not, so if you read it, please review with some constructive criticism, or even flame me. Seriously guys, NO ONE has ever reviewed anything I've written. Probably because I've only ever written the beginning chapter of another story and it sucked. So people, find it in the kindness of your hearts to give me one review and make the year for one particular Harry Potter nerd that you all know as, Ya know, me.**

**Ta peeps, peace out and all that.**


	2. The main character flips out

**This is my second chapter. Yeah! If anyone ends up reading this, I would like feedback on how badly I wrote Dumbledore and ways to improve that. I would also like a puppy, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen either. If by some miracle someone is reading this, Note that it is the second chapter in two days. Also, get psyched, 'cause I'm sick and have nothing better to do than keep writing this story. Ta.**

**This isn't mine, JKR is a goddess, I have no friends.**

**And on with the show!**

Nessy sat on the floor of the library for longer than she probably should have, and by the time she finally got up the light was dying outside the window, but you try being brought almost twenty years into the past by and eleven year old boy who claimed to be fate and not being a little rattled. That, and of course the fact that she wasn't sure what to do. Did the headmaster spend summers in Hogwarts? Dumbledore. Hmm. She'd heard stories about Dumbledore, but he had died around three years before she was born. She decided she was going to trust him, perhaps a bit premature, never actually having met him, but when you're still dizzy from the effects of time traveling mere hours after your father's death, sometimes you need something to be set in stone. She knew her father had thought highly of him. She supposed she should go find him.

She wandered out of the library and made her way towards the gargoyle who guarded the headmaster's office. She'd been before, of course. It had been Hermione's office when she had taught the school. But times had been so different then, and the only teacher besides her was Professor Bins, who hardly had anything to be afraid of, and at most there were only fifteen or so students left. Hermione taught them all in one class, every subject except history of magic. She was dedicated.

Even though Nessy was used to the halls being deserted, she was still a little anxious as she walked the hallways devoid of life. What if there was no one there, and she was stranded at Hogwarts for the whole summer, with no one to talk to, or help her get her bearings. She supposed she could come up with that plan she had wanted to make before Fate up and dropped her off here, but somehow that only seemed to be productive when a potion was brewing and there was nothing better to do. Now that she was here, it seemed like she could be doing other things with her time.

"What are you doing here? All the students have gone home."

Nessy whipped around, and in the process managed to jump a few feet into the air. Floating behind her was the ghost of Professor Bins. Nessy surprised herself by smiling. She'd never really liked Bins, but hey, it was a familiar face.

"Professor! I'm looking for the headmaster, does he spend his summer's here? If he doesn't, where can I find him? It's kind of important." She said in her best I'm-a-regular-schoolgirl voice.

"Professor Dumbledore spends his nights here during the summer, but really girl, how did you get here? Are you even a student?"

Nessy wasn't worried that he didn't recognize her. He didn't recognize half the people in the class he taught in her time, and then there had only been about fifteen people, as was said before. But she still wanted to avoid the subject of how she got there. She weighed her options. She just hoped what she was about to do was as effective now as it would be in twenty years.

"Thank you professor Bins. I've gotta go study for a test tomorrow!" Nessy waited with tension to see if it worked.

"Oh... then... good luck. You may go." said the ghostly Professor, confused.

Nessy walked purposefully down the hall, a smirk on her face. Yep. He is definitely just as spacey as he always was. Or will be. Some one hand me a headache potion.

As she rounded the corner to the gargoyle, she saw a silver haired someone about to step onto the moving staircase.

"Dumbledore!?!" She exclaimed, hoping with all her might it was him. He turned and she saw some surprised blue eyes peering at her from under half moon spectacles.

"Yes?" He said, curiosity etched in his face.

"I need to talk to you! I, I- can we go to your office?" Nessy stumbled. Now that the time came she had no idea what to say. Maybe those three months of planing were a good idea.

"Of course, of course, where are my manners? Please join me in my office, Miss, so we might discuss what you are doing at Hogwarts in the summer, and why I have no idea who you are. After you" He bowed, a dead serious expression on his face, but the barest hint of a twinkle in his eye as he beckoned her up the stair.

Once they were settled in his office, Dumbledore with Fawkes perched comfortably on his sholder. The headmaster got right down to business.

"Lemon Drop?"

Nessy looked at him oddly, but took the candy. She was quickly deciding she liked this funny man.

"Now Miss...?"

"Just call me Nessy please. I think my last name might need some more explaining first."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, but made no comment as he continued his question.

"Miss Nessy, would you be so kind as to tell me how you came to be wandering Hogwarts all alone in the middle of the summer."

Nessy sighed, "You want the direct version"

"Miss Nessy, it is currently impossible for me to obtain the direct version, as you have already avoided the question three times if I have counted correctly. But, to answer your question, in my experience the direct way is indeed the only way to tell complicated stories."

Nessy was practically panicking at this point, she just couldn't get a grip on what happened to her. She was bouncing in her chair and every once and a while she would run a hand quickly through her wispy tangled hair. He'd think she was crazy. She knew he would. And what was she doing? All these nerves were going to do was make her seem crazier. But she couldn't stop. It was escalating, she was going into an all out panic. She stood, knocking down the chair.

"You won't believe me. I know you wont!" she sobbed. And then she found that she wasn't sobbing about that, but that she was crying for her father who died in her arms, and for her aunts and her uncles and the mother she never knew, and the grandparents who died only last year, and the grandparents who died when her father was a year old. And for Mcconagle, and for Remus, and Tonks, and for Nevile and Luna, and Seamus and Dean, and Lavender, and Cho and Susan, and all those other nice faces she would never see again, because they were dead.

Dumbledore seemed to realize that the problem wasn't really that he wouldn't understand. Within a second he had come around his desk and held her in a fatherly hug.

"I wont let them this time, I'll stop it. No one's gonna die" Nessy ranted through her tears.

"Shh, it will get better" said Dumbledore, his heart broken to see the little girl cry. "You're safe at Hogwarts now."And then Nessy did something Dumbledore did not expect. She snapped at him.

"And people don't die at Hogwarts?" She said, her green eyes flashing.

"Not while I'm here." Said the headmaster. And the girl dissolved into tears again.

When she was alright again, Dumbledore sat her down in the chair facing his desk, and went around to sit behind it himself. Fawkes was perched on her shoulder now. He wasn't singing, but he was cooing softly, and the sound made Nessy feel better. Calmer.

"now Nessy" The Headmaster continued as if she had never broken down. "How did you get here?"

Nessy was embarrassed about her outburst, and avoided the twinkling blue eyes, staring at her knees.

"Just out with it then?"

Dumbledore remained silent, with an encouraging look on his face. Nessy took a deep breath, the words beginning to form in her mind. But before she had a coherent thought, she burst out.

"I'm from the future." She reddened at those words. How stupid sounding could she get? But Dumbledore just smiled at her.

"Well, Nessy, as I have never heard of someone coming so far back as you must have- how much was that?"

"twenty years."

"As I have never heard of anyone coming back twenty years, I believe you were correct in being a little apprehensive in telling me. Anyone else would have laughed you out the door. Putting aside the fact that that explanation would adequately explain your presence here, I am required to ask for some proof, having received that excuse from more than one student in my time."

Nessy looked suspiciously at the old man in front of her. Was he playing games with her? That twinkle in his eye seemed to suggest it. But, really, she knew what position she'd put him in. She sighed her consent, and started searching her mind for something that would convince this man she was who she said she was. What did she know about him? Her father had said he'd told him the prophecy...

Nessy looked back into his eyes with renewed fire, and started to recite "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the dark lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the dark lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies."

Nessy looked at Dumbledore expectantly, waiting to see if that had made an impact.

"Dumbledore?"

"I must applaud your choice of proof. Reciting my most closely guarded secret as if it were a nursery rhyme has a distinctly dramatic feel, do you not agree? Were that not overly enough to convince me, I may have chosen to believe you out of respect for your wit. Now, if you would be so kind as to tell me your name..."

Nessy smiled, her nervous tension whipped into a pool of relief. "Nessy Potter sir."

"Ahh" said Dumbledore. That made sense. Her father had told her about the prophecy. At least that meant Voldemort may never hear the entire thing. "And how did you manage to find your way here, Miss Potter? I believe I am correct in assuming that it was no accident."

"No." Said Nessy wistfully, remembering a little. "but that doesn't mean I was expecting it"

"Why don't you start at the beginning Miss Potter?" Dumbledore said kindly.

Nessy seemed at a loss for where the beginning was, but settled on the beginning of that hectic day. "This morning-"

"you mean the morning you experienced a few hours ago in your time, not this particular day's morning?"

Nessy looked at Dumbledore with some confusion. "Yeah, er, that one. Anyway, this morning when my father fulfilled that prophecy-"

Interrupting was not something Dumbledore usually did, but at these words he had to ask.

"you mean he kills Voldemort? Once and for all? Twenty years, and then it's over?" the words were crisp, his blue eyes searching her face, not even daring to hope.

"Yeah, he killed him all right. But my dad died too." She said it in a monotone, staring at the desk, but the moment she finished she began to cry again. It was pathetic really. Before Dumbledore could react, she had herself under control again.

"And so I went and found the last horcrux that was lying on the ground, ripped in half-"

Dumbledore was looking very grave indeed. "Last horcrux? More than one?"

"Yeah," said Nessy, now secure in her position telling the story "In my dad's second year he hands you the first one with a hole right through the center. He didn't even know what it was. You assumed it was a horcrux 'cause it did things a memory couldn't and thought there were more 'cause otherwise Tom would have been more careful with it."

Dumbledore was against all odds managing to follow what she was saying. Horcrux arrives at Hogwarts. Bad things happen. A second year Harry Potter destroys said horcrux. Horcrux is given to him, which confirms suspicions he already had about why Voldemort survived. Voldemort wouldn't have risked his only horcrux's destruction so there are more. Got it. Amazing. And it all made sense... well, it did to a genius like Dumbledore.

"I understand, Miss Potter, please continue. You went and got a destroyed horcrux?"

Nessy nodded. "It was a book that Griffindor wrote. Tom likes stuff from the founders. Anyway, before my dad destroyed it, I'd gone through it, 'cause I thought it was a shame to destroy such an interesting book. I found this page on time travel, changing what had already happened, and I remembered the page. After my dad died, I went through both halves of the book and found the page it was on. It was a potion, and I was going to make it and go back to stop everyone from dying."

At those words, Dumbledore got a sad look in his eyes, but didn't comment on it. Instead, he said "but you said all this happened a few hours ago, how did you brew what most certainly was a very complex potion in such a short time?"

"I didn't, this is the strange part. Some kid appeared in the library, and told me he was trying to stop me going back. I told him to go stuff it, and he smiled, said okay, and brought me directly here! Said it had been a test of my resolve and all that, called himself fate, and just disappeared."

Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Hmm. Interesting..." He seemed lost in his thoughts, but was back in a moment. "and so now you're here, with twenty years worth of information about what will happen. What do you plan on doing? The more you change, you understand, the less worth your foresight will be."

"Yeah, I get that. But I want it to change. If one less person dies, it would have been worth it to come back." Nessy said stoutly, her face a carefully balanced between determination and nervous fear.

"Why did _you_ come back?" Asked Dumbledore directly. He knew the answer. It was to save those she loved, but he wanted to find out why a eleven year old was sitting in his office, all alone. Wasn't there someone else? Why did this burden have to be dropped on one so young? Why did it always have to be?

Nessy bristled with defensiveness "I'm perfectly capable of..." she looked up at Dumbledore and saw the look in his eyes. Her defensiveness melted into watery eyes. "my mum died before I could remember. Dad just this morning. My aunts and uncles, you see my mother had a lot of siblings, they all died at different times. Some of them I knew. Some I didn't. My grandparents too. I knew them. A couple Aurors I got close with. Every teacher who ever taught here. The ministry was gone. Eventually people realized it didn't really do much to stop Tom. There wasn't anyone else I knew." she looked at her hands. "I'm only alive 'cause of my dad. He protected me harder than anyone. I think that's 'cause of my mum. He thought he could have saved her." she giggled remembering. "Silly dad thought he could have saved everyone. A stranger died and he'd be quiet for weeks..." She choked and closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about her dad. Not yet.

Dumbledore looked at the small girl, her eyes closed, fists clenched, wrestling to stop herself crying over her entire family. Her entire world really. And then she surprised him. Her green eyes snapped open and she said with utmost clarity.

"The last thing he said was I had his mum's eyes. Do you think so?"

Dumbledore stared into the eyes in question. There was no doubt. "Yes indeed you do. It's uncanny."

Nessy clenched her fist's tighter, and sat up a little straighter. "Can you change them? I don't want people to notice that we look anything alike. I've got a face that's a good enough mix between my parents that no one will comment there, but I've got his hair and eyes, and that would be enough to make the connection..." Her chin stuck out determinedly, but Dumbledore didn't miss the slight tremor that went through her as she said it.

He was struck by her pluck. She sat here, twenty years before her time, her father's death fresh in her mind, and asked him to erase the strongest link she had to him. She had more strength than an eleven year old should. He drew out his wand.

"What color would you like them to be?"

"Green" she mouthed, but then said so she could be heard. "I don't care, just make it fit my face"

Dumbledore swirled his wand, and deep sapphire eyes appeared in the place of the emerald ones. They were really striking, and Dumbledore chose them because they would have the same effect on people as the emerald ones. She wouldn't lose the advantage she'd never known she had.

He conjured a mirror and tilted it up so she saw her face. Nessy nodded through tears. It was clear she didn't care how pretty her new eyes were, she wanted her old ones.

"Now, Miss Potter, there is the question of who we are to say you are, and where you are to stay. You can, of course keep your first name, as no one here would have any knowledge of it, but I think a change of your surname is in order. How about 'Thrower'? It has the same feel to it I think.

Nessy Thrower shrugged, her blue eyes still watery.

"Have you a preference as to where you stay?" Dumbledore coaxed gently.

"I thought maybe Mrs. Figg" Said Nessy, staring at the ground. "I knew her a little, and I could be close to Dad. But I dunno... would she take me?"

"I shall ask her. Do you wish me to tell her the truth?"

"If I'm going to be living with her, she should know." Nessy said simply.

Dumbledore nodded in agreement. She was smart, this little girl. She'd be of great help to her father.

"It will be done then, Miss Thrower, but I think there is something you need to be aware of first."

Nessy looked at him with those blue eyes.

"He's not going to be your father Nessy" said Dumbledore sadly.

Nessy looked down again, her body reading, 'oh, was that all'

"I know, sir. But it'll still be him, you know? He'll be a kid, not a dad, and I'm sure he'll be different, but it'll be him. And I'll be damned if I let him die again."

"It's important you understand that Nessy. If you want, tell him the truth, but make sure he can handle it when you do. Don't heap it on his shoulders to be a father to a girl his age."

"I know" mouthed Nessy sadly.

"And now to business Miss Thrower, I take it you have stayed here before, where do you sleep when you are here?"

"I'll just stay in the room of requirement. I don't want to stay in Griffindor tower alone." she sniffed, quite suddenly and stood up. "Just call me when you find if I can go to Mrs. Fig's."

As she walked out of the office, Dumbledore stopped her.

"Miss Potter."

she turned "Yep" she said, overly peppy through her tears.

"If you have taken after your father, then I hold great hopes for the future."

Nessy gave a true and thankful smile, her blue eyes swimming in her tears.

And then she was gone.

Dumbledore closed his eyes. "A first year come back to save us all" he sighed. He looked over at Fawkes who'd found his way to his perch sometime in that conversation.

"lets just hope we can save her."

**Dah, Dah, Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Well, if you've enjoyed my masterpiece, please press the button just below to commend my genius. Other uses for this button include, putting down my story to make yourself feel better, venting your own frustration with life, and of course, genuinely hating my story. This is completely cool. Flame away. I intend to work reviewers into the story too. So get your fifteen seconds of fame here! **


	3. Fate freaks out Nessy Funny, really

**Well, here I am again, still sick, and still writing. This is a little shorter, you're probably thankful. Anyway, I think it is a little better than the rambling last one. Please enjoy my take on how time travel works in this world. And tell me what you think. Please! Especially character critiques. **

**Oh, come on, is anyone really stupid enough to think I wrote Harry Potter? Please.**

Nessy woke in the room of requirement feeling as comfortable as she had ever felt in her life. Her good sleep had been a combination of exhaustion, the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in in her life (the room of requirement has a knack for giving you exactly what you need.), and the mild sleeping potion that had found it's way into the glass of water beside her bed. She woke with sunlight warming her back, streaming through a window she was sure hadn't been there before. She sat up, hugging her knees happily, and allowed the cozy scene to wash away the horrible day she'd had yesterday. Today had hope. She could change things. Her father would grow old with her mother, surrounded by their big, loud family. The Weaslys. The Voldemort thing would be over so much quicker. She could live her own life. She let go of a deep breath with satisfaction. Hope.

Next to her someone else sighed.

Nessy leaped out of bed, like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on and scrambled to untangle herself from the blankets that had wrapped themselves around her as she slept. When she had enough of herself free, she looked up into the face of a boy her age with dusty brown hair, light brown-gray eyes and some light freckles across his round nose.

"You!" she exclaimed with surprise. So much for her nice moment.

"Yep" said the boy with an amused look on his face. "you're gonna fall over if you don't-"

But it was too late. She tried to lunge for him and tripped over the twisted sheet on the floor, smacking her head on the bed. Fate winced. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Nessy straightened up, rubbing her nose. "What are you doing here? You're not taking me back are you? Please don't, I haven't done anything yet! Nothing will have changed!" She was frantically trying to keep her cool. She couldn't have this taken away, not so quickly.

"Shh, kid, I'm not taking you back. I'm just here to check in with you. You're kinda my responsibility now, seeing as I sent you here all alone."

Nessy narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you care about me? You haven't been very nice to me in the past."

Future, mouthed Fate, but let it go.

"You killed my family! You just let them die!" yelled Nessy with venom in her voice.

"I didn't kill them!" said Fate indignantly. "Voldemort killed them! Hey, I'm supposed to be neutral in these sorts of things, but I still helped your family out as much as I could! How many times did your father or someone get out of something completely by chance! Thats about all the control I have! You do have some free will you know!"

"What about the prophecy? Are you saying that that had nothing to do with you?"

He really did look human. I mean, he pulled off sheepish quite well. If Nessy hadn't been deadly serious she would have laughed.

"Well, yeah, that was sorta me, but even you knew your dad had to marked or there wouldn't have been any hope for anyone. And even with the prophecy, still our good friend Tom Riddle's fault! He didn't have to act on the prophecy." Fate looked triumphant, as if this point was winning him a medal.

Nessy still looked at the boy with some reservation, but she remembered her father had said the same thing often. She was going to trust him. Sort of. She crossed her arms.

"and you came here now to...?"

"I told you, check up on you. Ur the first person to have ever managed this. Seriously, none of this 'it may have already happened' crap. Ur it, and well, I'm bloody interested in what's going to happen." He said it eagerly, as though she was going to answer with a wealth of information on what was going to happen to her. But Nessy had some questions herself.

"Okay, kid, Fate, whoever you are, answer me this. What happens if I alter time so I wasn't born? Will I still be here? Or will it be like I never existed and never changed anything. And when things happen differently, will I remember things differently? Or do I keep my original memories?" This was Nessy's greatest concern apart from her family dying despite her. Was it possible to change the past?

Fate absolutely beamed at the question. It was clear hardly anything got him down. "So glad you asked, and do you think I would have sent you here if you couldn't change anything?" He had a good point, thought Nessy. "No, kid, you keep your memories no matter what happens. The world you come from already doesn't exist anymore. Just you're being here messed that up. But now you're a very real part of this time, so you stay unchanged. It was as if your time was an equation that produced you and spat you into reality." Fate smiled, then he realized that the look on her face was not at all good, and realized that he might have put it more delicately. "Don't think about it"

Nessy's head was spinning. Why did that always happen when he came? But she did her best to forget it. All that it meant was her family would never suffer. She could stop it.

"Okay, so that about wraps it up for our little chat." said Fate lively. "Til next time..."

"Right" said Nessy, still confused, as this time she let him go without a fight. She had a feeling he'd be back again. He'd be helpful, perhaps, in what she was trying to do. How helpful depended wholly on what questions she asked. And for some reason she couldn't place, she just liked him. His cheeriness gave her hope.

She pulled on some of the black robes that had appeared at the foot of her bed, and made her way down to the great hall for breakfast.

When she got there she saw Dumbledore, dressed in flowing magenta robes, pouring himself some pumpkin juice at a table set for two. Nessy walked over and sat across from him, shyly asking him to pass the sausages. He smiled kindly at her. He could tell that breaking down crying wasn't her choice for an introduction, and he highly doubted she did it often.

After he handed her the plate, he inquired as to her sleep.

"Great," she muttered, "til Fate came to check up on me."

Dumbledore raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Fate visited you last night?"

"this morning actually, startled the bloody..." she glanced up at the Professor "anyway, I was surprised. Said he was checking up on me. I asked 'im if I would change my own memories by changing the past. Said no. Then he left."

Dumbledore was beaming at the girl before him. Smart kid, to realize the danger she posed in time traveling. He himself had spent the whole night researching it, with little luck, as examples were scarce. Good to know he wouldn't have that to worry about.

In the meanwhile, Nessy seemed to have broken out of her unnatural shyness frowning at the mystery that was Fate. Not the first to do so, but she did have the abnormal advantage of having met him.

Dumbledore took advantage of her silence to change the subject.

"I contacted Mrs. Figg last night, gave her some loose details. She'd be only to willing to take you. I was a little surprised, since she likes the privacy of living alone, but I think your tragic tale might have awakened the soft spot we didn't know that Arabella had. So as soon as you're ready, you'll be joining her on Privet Drive. I assume you know all about your great aunt and uncle?"

Nessy snorted, nodding. "I can definitely handle them."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he surveyed the sure girl in front of him. "Might I suggest you leave them in one piece, Miss Thrower? As, er, horrid as they might be, they are vital to your father's survival and them, oh I don't know, throwing him out onto the street might prove disastrous to any future plans you may have.

Nessy smiled innocently back at him, her blue eyes wide and trusting, "I'll certainly try headmaster."

Dumbledore decided not to push it.

After breakfast, Nessy went back to the room of requirement, and found a trunk filled with all the clothes, muggle and wizard, and other things she would need to move in with Mrs. Figg. She dragged it out into the entrance hall where Dumbledore waited. With one wave of his wand, he sent the trunk to it's destination, and then escorted Nessy to the nearest fire. He offered her a pouch containing floo powder. She took a pinch, and threw it over the flames. They looked the color her eyes used to be.

Before she stepped in she turned to Dumbledore. "Thank you." She whispered, her eyes on the floor again.

Dumbledore nodded slightly. "Take care. I'll see you and your father when term starts. Now go before it wears off."

Nessy stepped carefully into the flames and shouted "Seven Privet Drive!"

With a whoosh, she was gone, and Dumbledore let out a breath he'd been holding.

"Goodbye Miss Potter." he removed his spectacles and began rubbing them on his robes.

"Good Luck"

**Wow, I managed to have another corny ending like last time. Hope you're not getting bored with them, 'cause all indications are they're gonna keep on coming. Flame, review, tell me about your cats peeing on your bed, I don't care, just talk to me damn it!**


	4. Oh daddy dearest

**Now, I know all my raving fans were asking for it, so in this chapter, It's gonna happen. Get ready for it, drum roll please... Yeah, she's gonna meet her dad. This was the hardest thing to write so far, but I struggled on, and do you know why? It was for you. All my brilliant reviewers who don't actually exist, b/c I really don't think this story's been up long enough to show up on the website. Oh well.**

**Tell your lawyers to stand down already! It's not mine. Fine I'll give back the tee shirts. The hat's to? Aw man, those were classy. **

Nessy stepped out of the fire into a house that smelled like cats. She'd been there only once before, when she and her father had come to collect Mrs. Fig. It was becoming to dangerous for a member of the Order to live on her own with just her cats for company. Especially since she didn't have magic, and lived so close to Harry's aunt and uncle, who had always been targets. She had been older then, a little crazier, though it was hard to believe looking around at the cat – smelling, knit- pillow, eccentric- old person room that Nessy had landed in. Eccentrics get even more eccentric in their old age.

Sitting on the musty couch, was the lady herself. Insert description of her craziness that I would have scalped directly from the book anyway.

"So, you're the kid from the future, Miss _Thrower_." She emphasized the name in a way that meant she knew it wasn't real.

"Yep" said Nessy, unenthusiastically surveying the room.

"Well, I'm sorry you got stuck with me kid, as I'll be the first to admit I've pretty much lost any sense of how to deal with children I might have had at one point. Didn't really improve your dad's life much, when I got him over here. But at least I'm not those Dursleys right?" She said all this uncomfortably, and a little gruff.

Nessy smiled sympathetically. Poor woman was completely lost about what to do with her. Funny really.

"From what I heard about them, yeah, you'll be much better."

Mrs. Fig didn't look very reassured, but then it wasn't a high standard. "Dumbledore said you'd be able to take care of yourself, mostly. Said he didn't need to say a word you just trooped off to the room of requirement last night and, you know, took care of yourself. Now I'm not saying you'll be completely on your own, but really, I never had kids, except my cats, and they keep themselves to themselves if you get my meaning..."

Nessy assured her that she could indeed look after herself, and went up to her room to check on her trunk.

Looking out the window to the suburban street bellow, and all the uniform houses, she shuddered at growing up here. No wonder he hated it. Her childhood hadn't been a picnic, but it was hardly dull. While conducting an inner argument over which way she would have preferred to be raised, she saw a black haired blur sprint past the house, followed a few moments later by a fat boy with blond hair. Nessy sprinted down the stairs, yelling a hasty goodbye to her hapless guardian, and swung out the door, determined to get involved.

And so another black haired blur was added to the chase, this one's messy locks flying out behind her as she sprinted after them.

Dudley cornered Harry between the fences of Mrs. Peabody and another family the name of which Harry didn't know. Usually there was a nice cut through there, but apparently they'd seen fit to put in a gate to prevent that while Harry was in his cupboard. He turned to face Dudley, a little more than annoyed. His green eyes held fear, but not the kind he would learn to live with. This was just a kid's fear of a bully.

"Hey Dudley, just look at the color of your face! I told you the toilet would be sick if we put your head in it. So really, I just made a good suggestion. For the cleanliness of everyone."

The pink faced Dudley advanced on the much smaller boy with a fist raised. He hit him full out in the stomach, causing the thin boy to splutter in pain. Happy with himself, Dudley backed off for a second, just long enough for Harry to start running again. He clutched his side and wheezed, but he knew enough to keep running anyway. Dudley got his hit, and he'd be to lazy to chase him again.

Sure enough, Dudley waddled back up the street, smirking to himself about his chicken cousin who would run away before he fought him.

Nessy was not in a position to help. The moment Harry had stood still enough to see his face, his eyes, his scar, she had burst out crying. She didn't mean too, but it was her father! He was alive! But then he was dead too. It was so confusing, so she just ran, and found a spot in someones bushes crying her eyes out.

What she didn't know was these particular bushes were one of a certain relative of hers favorite hiding spots.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" Nessy jumped about five feet, and looked up into the familiar green eyes. Her mouth fell open in shock. It was him. Merlin, did he look young.

"I- er- sorry..." she said lamely, blushing. What was she supposed to say to her dead father as an eleven year old?

"Don't apologize to me." said the small boy understandingly, "Is it Dudley? If it is, I should probably stop talking to you, or I'll just make it worse -"

"NO!" Nessy exclaimed. She couldn't let him leave. Harry gave her a funny look.

"I mean no, sorry" she said blushing again. "It's not him, it's just, er, that my father died last week. I'd really like company." It was sort of the truth. She added a week for it to seem more plausible.

"You don't want my company, I'm just the neighborhood freak." said the boy bitterly, but he sat down next to her "Who are you anyway? I don't recognize you from around. Did you just move here?"

"Yeah, when my dad died I moved in with Mrs. Figg. She's an old friend of the family." Again, completely true. Didn't even tweak that one.

"I'm Harry. I'm sorry about your father. I know how you feel, sorta. My parents died when I was a baby. Car crash. But I don't think that compares to have actually known them. Sorry."

"It'll be fine." said Nessy, whipping away her tears bravely. "My name's Nessy. Wish I'd met you when I wasn't bawling my eyes out."

Harry gave a small smile. He didn't care how he met someone who would talk to him.

"So if your parents aren't around either, who do you live with?"

Harry scowled. "My aunt and uncle. Mr. And Mrs. Dursley. They're foul." He seemed to realize what he said and looked horrified, as if Nessy would be offended. Anyone else on that street would have looked at him funny and said they were normal. But this girl giggled.

"Mrs. Fig isn't so bad. She's just off her rocker."

"Yeah, I know, I stay with her sometimes. Where as I get my cousin Dudley, biggest bully the world has ever seen."

"That fat blond lard who was chasing you earlier? I see you've escaped unscathed."

Harry laughed. He didn't laugh often, as the Dursleys usually took this to mean he was too happy, and acted accordingly.

"Not quite", he said, wincing as he touched the place on his stomach where Dudley hit him.

"Ouch, wish I'd done something," said Nessy a little guiltily.

"Oh, it's fine, nothing you could have done anyway."

"Still, friends help each other out."

"You didn't even know me then... Did you say friends?" the look on his face was a mix of shock and suspicion.

"Yeah, so?" Said Nessy casually.

"Dudley'll pummel you. You know that right? I mean I don't want you to get hurt, you seem to be having a hard time as it is right now..." He was trying to protect her. He didn't even know her and he would have given up the only friend he'd ever have to stop her getting hurt. Nessy put on her best sarcastic smile through the emotion she was feeling.

"Sweet, but don't worry about it. I can take care of myself. And I'm not gonna let some stupid blond boy decide my friends for me."

Harry smiled and looked relieved.

"BOY!" came a shout from a shrill voice.

"Coming Aunt Petunia!" Harry yelled over his shoulder. "gotta go then. See ya around"

"I should probably go to," Said Nessy.

Harry started running back towards number four. He only looked back once, in time to see the lonely figure walking slowly home wipe her eyes with her sleeve.

Harry didn't know what to think of the girl with black hair and blue eyes who had just become his first and only friend. She was so sad, he could tell, but she was not for being felt sorry for. And there was just something about her he felt was different. She felt curiously familiar. It wasn't just that they were both black haired orphans that gave him the feeling it was... he couldn't put his finger on it.

As he was yelled at by his Aunt for dawdling, (Nasty lazy boy, just like your father) he thought about Nessy. He smiled. Perhaps this summer wouldn't be as bad as the rest. That coupled with the hope he'd already been feeling for the coming school year when he would be going to the local public school, away from Dudley, who was going to Smeltings, made it the most cheerful time he had ever spent locked in his cupboard without dinner.

Nessy walked home with confused thoughts. That boy was her father. No. That boy would be her father. She could understand now what Dumbledore had been trying to warn her about there. No matter how much she thought she understood things, seeing her young father the day after he died shook her. And she had thought she had tough skin. She walked to Mrs. Figg's house slowly, kicking rocks and balancing on the high curb.

By the time she reached her new home, she'd made a promise to herself. Harry Potter was going to be her friend. She wouldn't think of him as anything else but that. She would get to know him naturally like anyone else would, and she would do her best not to be startled at the similarities between this unfortunate boy and her father. She would act naturally. After all, he was her age really, only a little younger.

As she walked up the creaking stairs, greeted by an awkward Mrs. Figg, who seemed almost surprised she'd come back, she tried to adjust her mind to see Harry the way she needed to. Nessy was a good lier, Dad said she got it from both sides. He always laughed when he said that, told her she should break the habit, but he didn't mean it. He knew what an asset telling convincing stories could be in dangerous times, that it might one day save her- what was she doing! She was thinking about her father again, and she couldn't let herself, or it would be just that much more difficult with Harry. She had to make them two people, cause the easiest way to lie is to believe what you say.

Tomorrow she'd put it to the test. She was going to get to know Harry, not her father. Harry James Potter, the almost eleven year old boy who didn't even know he was a wizard yet, let alone a famous one. Except don't think like that, because so far the only thing you know about him is his first name, his 'foul' family, and that he has never had a friend before. So see him as that.

This might be harder than I thought, mused Nessy. After all, I haven't had so many friends my age anyway.

She was lying on her new bed, her black hair spread out behind her on the old fraying lavender comforter, knees bent over the edge of the bed and arms out at her sides, staring at the ceiling, when a there was a knock on her door.

"Come in" she called, without moving.

Mrs. Figg opened the door, and hobbled in on her crutches, her leg in a cast, a nervous look on her face. "So." she walked over to the dusty dresser that had a few ancient and cracked porcelain figures on it, and began picking them up and dusting them off on her bathrobe. "How'd it go?"

Nessy was a little surprised, thinking Mrs. Figg would simply leave her be in her room, almost like a boarder. She propped herself up on her elbows "What do you mean?"

"Oh!" said Mrs. Figg, embarrassed. "I assumed the reason you rushed out of here was that you saw Harry and wanted to introduce yourself."

"Oh that, that was horrifying" said Nessy with feeling, throwing herself down flat on her bed again.

The old bat chuckled, and accidentally broke a leg off a figure horse she had been wiping. This caused her to swear loudly, and then hurriedly apologize to Nessy.

"Achem." she cleared her throat. "so what happened girl?"

"Well" began the discouraged Nessy, "The moment I saw him I burst into tears, which would have turned out okay because he didn't see me, but the bush I chose to hide in was the same one he hid in to escape that awful cousin of his... What does that make him to me by the way? My second cousin or my first cousin once removed?"

Blabbering was Nessy's way of putting it behind her, but Mrs. Figg was just confused by the irrelevant question, and shrugged it off. "So what did you say?"

"Told him the truth. My father died. He was quite nice about it. I called him my friend and he got all protective, telling me that Dudley would pound me, but I said I didn't care. Then his aunt called and he left." Nessy banged her hands on the bed. "this would be so much easier if he had been completely different, but no, he had to be the same old considerate dad, or whatever he is now! Ugh!"

'Ugh' didn't quite sum up the way she was feeling. In fact, she was being intentionally blasé about the entire thing. It felt good to be able to take it almost jokingly.

"Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to see him again and actually talk about something. Maybe actually become friends, instead of just me crying my green little eyes out- wait, make that blue eyes..." she looked at the ground. A loud voice in her head was screaming _This is not important! _But she didn't care.

Mrs. Figg sighed. She didn't quite understand this time traveling eleven year old, but she was going to try. Old and crazy she may be, but she wasn't heartless enough to let this little girl go through hell alone. "You, uh, want to talk about it?" she attempted.

"Nah, Mrs. Figg. I want to forget about it."

"If you're sure" said the cat lady, and she hobbled her way out, shutting the door after herself.

**Random ending, I know, but it's better than that corny crap I gave you before. So, if you really don't like it, complain about it. Reviewing is good therapy. I know. I've got an offer. If you review mine, I'll review yours. Seriously, I will. So press the review button, you know you want to.**


	5. Bonding

**I don't own Harry Potter and it pisses me off. Grrrrr.**

**I also don't like this chapter. It's kinda bad and random. Oh well.**

The next day Nessy set out to find Harry, but she never saw him leave number four. Dudley came out and started picking on some younger kids though. Nessy practically growled in his direction.

When it got to about noon and he still hadn't left the house, Nessy began to suspect he was locked in his cupboard. Well, she'd just have to do something about that, wouldn't she?

Nessy walked towards the door, with her hands stuffed in her pockets. She rang the doorbell, and turned and stared down the walk. Aunt Petunia opened the door.

"May I help you?" she said in a half annoyed, half disinterested voice.

"Yeah" said a bored Nessy. "I'm looking for a-" she pretended to subtly check what she'd written on the back of her hand. "-Harry Patter, is he around?"

Aunt Petunia pursed her lips. "Why?" She said suspiciously.

Nessy sighed, and rolled her eyes. "my name is Nessy Thrower. I go to Stonewall, and I've been assigned to talk to him over the summer and make him feel" she not so subtly checked her hand again "acclimated and comfortable so that he may make the transition more smoothly. Look, If I don't do it I've gotta do summer school, so can you just let him come out, and we can get him all acclimated and stuff so he doesn't embarrass the school, and all that rot."

As this sounded quite boring and seemed to be something the neighbors would comment on if he missed, Petunia went and got a confused Harry out of his cupboard. When she handed him off, she said "Watch out for him, he's trouble." as if Harry weren't even there.

Nessy seemed to size Harry up with at look of disgust. "Figures, I always get the crazies. Come on Potter."

An extremely hurt Harry thought he had been made a fool the day before. As they turned the corner from Privet Drive onto Magnolia Crescent, he opened his mouth to say something angrily, when Nessy's entire posture changed. She went from bored to triumphant in about two steps.

"Yes! I am the master!" she said jumping up and down in victory.

"I don't get it." Harry didn't get it.

"Don't you see, my captive friend, I have rescued you from those terrible worms you are related to, and now we are free to spend the day however we please!"

"I don't know..." Harry didn't know.

"Oh take a chance, kid!"

"What if Dudley sees us? He'd tell my aunt and uncle, and then I'd be in even more trouble!"

"Where were you before?"

"Locked in a cupboard."

"WHAT ELSE COULD THEY DO!"

Harry finally saw the light, if only reluctantly, and once his apprehension about the arrangement wore off, he managed to have the time of his life. He'd never had a friend before, and this girl was brilliant. They talked freely all the way to the park, or at least Harry did, Nessy censored her words a little, but in doing so managed to turn some truly horrible experiences into humorous over the top stories.

She was turning out to have amazing skill in suppressing her old life. She reflected briefly on whether that was a good thing or not, but let it pass as she and her father sat down on the swings, jabbering on with her father about something or other. Fluff.

Their happy little outing was crushed, however, when they found themselves surrounded by a fat blond boy and some nasty looking cronies.

Harry hurriedly got off his swing and started searching for an escape. He tried to grab Nessy's arm and pull her through the gap in the boys, but she wasn't reacting very quickly. In fact, Nessy was a little surprised at Harry's instinct to run. She wasn't stupid, but she'd spent her life being chased around by death eaters, and Dudley's gang, no matter how unpleasant, paled a little in comparison.

She soon noticed her mistake. These were no death eaters, that was sure, but she didn't have magic or a very capable father to bail her out. Here, all she amounted up to was a small muggle girl facing six rather larger boys.

"Oh." she said in surprise as this thought hit her.

Dudley smirked in a satisfied way. He didn't like Harry to have friends. He was a freak, he wasn't supposed to have friends. Well, he wouldn't have this particular friend for long.

Nessy was backing away from the boy with the mean smile on his face. Clearly she hadn't understood that they were surrounded, because just then someone grabbed her arms and forced them behind her back. Bugger. She whipped her head around trying to find a way out of this. Harry was struggling, but it was obvious he didn't harbor any hope of escape. What had her father told her about Dudley that would help her out of this? Nothing. Another one of her father's words of wisdom drifted to the front of her mind instead. _I'll just have to take as many of them with me as I can_.

The fat boy didn't understand why those blue eyes were suddenly smiling, but he didn't like it. It scared him a little, and he didn't like to be scared by those he bullied. He advanced on her until he was close enough to strike and raised his fist.

Nessy put all her weight on the boy holding her and tried to kick up with her legs at the boy bearing down on her. It didn't quite go according to her plans. For one thing, the boy who had her arms was so surprised at the weight that he dropped her.

_This is bad_, she thought as her back hit the pavement with a painful smack, _No wait, this is good!_ She revised, as she realized she was free.

She began flailing around pretty terribly, hitting anything she could get her fists on. Nessy knew it wasn't pretty, but she also knew it didn't have to be. Dudley's bullying didn't require skill, so it was a pretty even match. Except that there were six of them.

Despite all her twisting and scraping and hitting, Nessy had always known she could never win this fight. But she was landing a fair amount of hits that must have hurt. Of course, for every one of hers there were six fists pounding her down. That was when she began to get scared. They weren't stopping, why weren't they stopping? This was just supposed to be a quick fight to make her point, but clearly they were angry she had fought back.

And then she became aware of a lessoning of the blows. Thank Merlin. She thought, panting as she exhaustedly tried to fight back the ones who were left. Thank bloody Merlin.

She looked up and swore out loud this time. They only stopped 'cause someone else had entered the fray. Harry.

Nessy tried vainly to pull them off, and finally managed to force her way to him. She pulled him up and they ran.

When they had run far enough to realize no one was following, they slowed to a walk and collapsed against someone's stone wall.

"Thanks" gasped Harry, clutching his side and nursing his wrist in the same motion.

"Thanks?!" repeated Nessy flabbergasted, "It was my stupidity that got us into... and then you got them off me... You're thanking me? Bloody moron."

Harry laughed at her. It sounded crazy, and Nessy frowned, about to make a comment, but then found she was laughing to. God, were they really that stupid? Six on two. Great odds. And now they sat around covered in bruises and laughing like idiots.

"I just can't believe your first instinct wasn't to run away. Most people catch a sight o' Dudder's face and are out a there before they can think twice!" said Harry, still clutching his side but this time from the uncontrollable mirth.

"It is an ugly face isn't it?"giggled Nessy. "I'm just sorry that now you're going to be in horrible trouble with your aunt and uncle. My fault, sorry."

Harry just laughed harder at this. Okay, that was a little much. Maybe her father was a little insane, 'cause a few months in a cupboard didn't sound funny to her.

"I don't think I am in trouble!" he said, still cackling.

"What do you mean! Aren't they going to kill you for breaking out and all that? Even if it's my fault still..."

"No, no, no, they aren't even going to hear about it! Dudley isn't going to admit he got in a fight with a girl! And he doesn't know you were supposed to be some boring school person! As long as I lay low for a while, he wont think to say anything! I've got a free pass!"

"Well, that does solve some problems... Hey wait, what happened to your glasses?" She'd suddenly realized he wasn't wearing them. He looked exceptionally funny, like there was something missing from his face.

Harry was recovering from his laughing fit, and held up the round broken glasses, snapped right down the middle. Nessy frowned.

"You should come over to my place, we'll find something to patch those up with."

Harry shook it off. "Don't even worry about it, happens all the time."

They argued lightly for a few minutes before Nessy convinced Harry to go to Mrs. Figg's. As they walked down the dusty suburban road, talking about something like the humidity, Nessy realized she wasn't talking to her father anymore, she was talking to her friend. When had that happened? Maybe back in that circle of boys, when he couldn't protect her. If her father had ever been able to do anything, it was that. She was on her own now, there was no denying it.

Harry noticed her get quiet all of a sudden. He didn't know what it was, but he'd had enough heartbreak in his life not to ask. He just walked a little closer to her, so their shoulders bumped a little as the walked.

Nessy smiled. Not quite so alone.

After a few weeks on Privet Drive, Nessy was surprised how happy she was. She hung out with Harry, they dodged Dudley all day, and then she came back and talked to Mrs. Fig, who wasn't so bad if you didn't mind the distant type, and Nessy certainly didn't mind being left to herself. She was even good for a sympathetic ear every once and a while, when she just wanted to scream "I'm from the future, people, so DEAL WITH IT!"

And then there was the fact that Harry was her first real friend. Running around constantly under her father's watch hadn't left her much time to get to know people. They were always moving too, and the places they ended up tended to lean more towards being headquarters than anything else. When she ended up at Hogwarts, which was quite often, she was so much younger than the few people there that it wasn't even an option. And then Hogwarts closed pretty quick anyway.

Nessy wasn't complaining, because she had never really known the difference, and her father was good enough company for her, and seriously, it was the least of her problems, but no one could say she wasn't excited when her first real glimpse of friendship came along.

And then there was the lack of death eaters. Always conducive to a pleasant environment. Compared to her old life, Privet drive was a little washed out in places, dull and tedious, but sometimes after you've been through something hard that's what you need. Here, with the boring houses and well kept yards, Nessy could tell herself it was all a dream.

She was woken from one particularly bad dream by a rapping on her window. She looked up to see a handsome school owl sitting on her windowsill. She rolled over drowsily.

"Hogwarts letter.." she mumbled annoyed. And then she sat bolt upright.

"Oh god..."

She opened the window and snatched the letter from the bird.

"Thanks, sorry gotta run..."

And then she was off, not even bothering to get out of her pajamas, or even put on shoes, running up the street towards number four. She got there just as the mailman was walking back down the path. He was a little surprised to see the girl in purple spotted pajamas and bare feet sprinting at him. So he decided to get out of the way.

Without hesitation, she ran past the disgruntled postal worker and threw open the door. There was Harry, examining the thick envelope addressed with green ink. She grabbed it from him, earning herself a shocked look, said "Sh!" as loudly as she dared, and shut the door.

Sliding down the now closed door, panting, she distantly heard her great uncle talking.

"Boy, was that the door I heard? Why the bloody hell were you opening the door?"

"One of the letters slipped under it and I needed to get it."

"Fine, but don't you let me catch you opening the door for no reason again, boy, or it's the cupboard for you. He's just not normal Petunia..." the rant that followed wasn't heard by Nessy, as she jogged slowly back to number seven. That was close. She'd heard her father's story about the hassle it took to get him his letter when she'd turned eleven, so it was still fresh in her mind. Now she just had to figure out a way to break the news to her father that he was a wizard. The only advantage of all that hassle was having Hagrid to explain everything. Oh well, she'd have to just come out with it.

She went up to her room and sat on her bed. In an hour or so, as soon as possible Harry would be at her door, looking for an explanation. Oh god, she'd have to give the story of Godric's Hallow as well. Maybe she could convince Harry he was a wizard, but famous? Oh well, she had to try, and if he didn't believe her at all, well she could always owl Dumbledore to send over Hagrid. Hagrid. Now there was someone she missed.

Lost in her sad reminiscences, she was knocked back into reality when someone knocked on her door. "Come in," she recovered, wiping a small tear from her eye. Harry sidled into the room.

"Okay, now, explain what just happened back there." He was looking at her with an amused smile playing on his lips. He thought this was some sort of joke. It certainly looked like it from his point of view.

Nessy smiled sheepishly. Oh no, Oh no, Oh no kept repeating in her head. She opened her mouth to speak and couldn't think of anything to say, so closed it.

Harry snickered, and walked over to sit on the bed next to her. "You look like a deer caught in the headlights."

Nessy pulled herself together. This was nothing. When she was eight she scared a death eater away from her hiding spot with some string, a needle and a feather. She could do this.

Taking a deep breath, she began by laying out both their letters on the bed between them. Harry stared down at his. "It's addressed to me! But I've never gotten mail before, who sent it you?" He reached out for it, but Nessy stopped his hand.

"Harry," she said nervously, "There's something I need to tell you before you open that letter. Now I need you to think for me. Have you ever made anything happen without meaning to? When you were angry or sad or something?"

Harry looked back at her curiously. "Not that I can think of..."

"Yes you have Harry! You told me once you ended up on the roof of the school, and you didn't know how you got there."

Harry didn't look very convinced. In fact he was frowning. "Yeah, but I didn't make that happen, that just... happened."

"Well then has anything else weird ever happened around you? Anything like that?" Nessy was becoming disparate. Please let him come up with something, please.

Harry was frowning, thinking hard. Nessy could see he was slowly realizing something. "Yeah, that stuff happens to me all the time. Do you know why? What's in that letter!"

Nessy was relieved. It showed on her face. "Yeah, I know why that stuff happens to you. It happens to me sometimes to. It's because you're a wizard Harry, and I'm a witch."

There was a long drawn out pause. Then Harry giggled slightly. "You're messing with me."

"No Harry! It's true, that's what these letters are. They're for a wizard school. I got mine this morning and I knew you'd be getting one too and that your aunt and uncle would take it away, so I ran over and got it before they could."

Harry had an odd look on his face, as though he wanted to believe it, as though a part of him knew it was true, but logic won the battle in the end.

"Hang on, even if it's true, and you were a witch, how would you know I was a wizard? Surely you couldn't have known I'd be one too!"

Shoot. "Well, er, you're sort of famous."

Another pause. "Right."

"No! It's true, no, here I can prove it." she rummaged through the trunk, looking for her wand. She found it, on top of a book she'd never seen before. The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. Huh. She'd asked the room of requirement for everything she'd need to live on Privet Drive, this hardly seemed... and then it hit her. Harry would be in this book. She smiled. Smart room.

"Here," she said, tossing the book to him. He caught it in surprise. "now I'll show you..." she waved her wand and sparks flew out of the end. She just hoped that wasn't enough to get her a warning for underage magic.

"Wow" said Harry, his green eyes lingering on the place in the air where the sparks slowly burned out. He turned back to Nessy grinning "It's real isn't it. This explains a lot."

Nessy smiled in relief. Part one over. Now on to the delicate part.

"Did you ever wonder where you got that scar Harry? It doesn't look ordinary, does it?" she asked softly.

Harry looked apprehensively at her. "I got it in the car crash my parents died in."

"Your parents didn't die in a car crash."

"They didn't." It wasn't really a question. Just a repetition of the what she'd just said. As if he didn't doubt it.

"No. They were murdered by a very dark wizard. The story's kind of famous in our world. It's in that book I gave you, I think." Nessy was trying to be delicate. She didn't come out with the entire thing at once.

Harry stared at the book in his hand. "Murdered," he mumbled to his hands. Then he looked back at Nessy. "What happened?"

"Well," she started, "Eleven years ago there was this war waging in the wizarding world. It all centered around this evil wizard, Voldemort. He was gaining all sorts of power, and no one seemed able to stop him. Lots of people tried and he killed them. My mum was one." her eyes were tearing up, not just for her mother but the other's too. Voldemort had taken them away. And her grandparents too. Harry's parents. Damn him. She shook her self, and made herself go on. "Anyway" she began again flatly, "One day he showed up to try and kill your parents. They fought him and both died. Then he turned to you. Merlin knows why, but when he cursed you, the spell rebounded and he disappeared. Left you with that scar, and no one with a clue how you had survived. You're the only one to have ever survived the killing curse. And that, along with the fact that Voldemort disappeared that night, makes you famous."

Harry was very quiet when Nessy finished her story.

"How could that be me? I'm not special. You've gotta have the wrong person."

Nessy shook her head. "Anyone in the wizarding world would know that scar. Anyone. I'm sure you'll find it annoying after a while." Here Nessy smiled. "but you'll get used to it. I know it's a lot to handle, and it's really a tribute to you that you've come around to the idea so quickly. But hey, look on the bright side, when you go to Hogwarts, you'll get away from the Dursleys!"

That line did it, and Harry broke through his stupor, a positivity ecstatic look on his face.

"Let me see that letter." Nessy laughed as he ripped it open eagerly. His face fell as he read the list of supplys needed. "Where am I supposed to get this stuff?"

"There are places." said Nessy. "We'll just have to call Hagrid to take you on a little shopping trip."

"Who's Hagrid?"

"You'll see."

**Whahoo! Now he knows, and the next chapter will be the train, because it would take too long to do diagon alley and I'm sure everyone's getting anxious waiting to get to Hogwarts. Btw, how sexy are my quick updates? Pretty cool if I do say so myself, but they may not last forever. So review!**


	6. Mobs of Redheads

**Yeah! New chapter. You have to tell me how badly I wrote all the characters who I didn't make up. The ones I made up, I can always say they were supposed to turn out that way.**

**Not my characters. I don't own them. I will die broke and friendless.**

"Hurry up, Mrs. Figg, we've gotta be there early!" yelled Nessy up the stairs, as she stood by the door with her trunk by her side.

"I don't understand," said Mrs. Figg huffily as she jogged down the stairs on her newly healed leg, "Why don't you want to help Harry onto the platform?"

"He has to meet some people. One of them happens to be my mother, and if he's with someone who knows how to get on, he'll never ask how, and he may not meet the Weasleys til later."

"Is that why you didn't ask him if he wanted a ride to Kings Cross?"

"No, we decided not to tell the Dursleys that I was a witch. Thought they might react badly, especially after the way they blew up when Harry told them he knew what he was."

Now they were dragging Nessy's trunk towards a dilapidated old car parked in the driveway. It was hard to tell, but it looked like it had once been grasshopper green.

Nessy sat in the back, with her things. About ten minutes into the ride, the car behind them began honking enthusiastically. It was beginning to get on Nessy's nerves, when I voice that got on her nerves even more sounded in the seat next to her.

"Rude these London drivers wouldn't you say?"

Nessy spun round to see Fate, sitting squashed between her trunk and the roof of the car.

"You!" she hissed as quietly as was possible, glancing towards Mrs. Figg and wondering if she could her him.

"That resembled Parseltongue more closely than it did English, and you don't have to whisper, by a strange twist of Fate-" the boy smiled wolfishly "-your guardian has sunk deep into thought at the moment, and isn't paying attention to a thing besides her musings. The road for instance, doesn't seem to be high on her priority list."

Nessy suddenly realized they were going about six miles an hour (convert that to kilometers yourselves people, cause I'm too lazy) on a thirty mile an hour road (same as before).

"No wonder they were honking" she muttered to herself, and then turned her attention back to Fate. "What are you-"

"You never get original with your greetings do you? Always 'You!' and then 'What are you doing here?' well, to answer the second question, I implore you to think. You are going to Hogwarts now. Things are going to start getting even more off the original. Did you really think I wasn't going to pop up and dole out some tips?" He smiled in what he clearly thought was a dashing sort of way, but Nessy just rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so, get on with it."

"Try to get your family to get along right off the bat..."

"I know that one, anything else?"

"Don't forget your last name is Thrower, and you'll be a bit ahead of the class so dumb it down a little."

"Are you planning on telling me something useful? Because otherwise, why don't you lift that spell or whatever you put on Mrs. Figg before someone crashes into us..."

"Oh yeah, one more thing that's important. No matter how much you want to, don't kill Wormtail on sight."

Nessy started violently. She was ashamed to say she had completely forgotten about Wormtail. Her expression darkened. "That little rat..."

"Exactly," said Fate calmly "To everyone else he's just a rat, and killing Ron's pet will hardly make you any friends. Not to mention that he still has an important role to play. So control yourself, and I'll be seeing you later..."

Without so much as a second warning he was gone. Mrs. Figg came to, apologized and drove normally again. Nessy just thought on what Fate had said.

Mrs. Figg dropped her off at the station, said goodbye, and left. She'd never been the most social person in the world.

Nessy waited anxiously behind the barrier. About ten minutes before the train was set to leave, some familiar redheads started coming through. Quelling her urge to scream, run at them and tackle each one with a hug, she walked calmly towards one of her uncles and said "Excuse me, Fred right? You didn't happen to see a boy my age with black hair did you? I'm sorta waiting for him..."

Just then Harry charged though the barrier, running like Mrs. Weasley suggested to combat his nerves.

"Harry!" she exclaimed, running over to help him stop his cart. "Thanks anyway Fred!" she yelled over her shoulder.

Together they walked to the train, and started trying to load their trunks. They were having difficulties, when your favorite double trouble team came over.

"Need a hand?" said the third years, and without waiting for a reply pushed Nessy's trunk, which had been jammed between walls of the train, up and into the empty compartment. When both trunks were stowed away neatly, they turned to Nessy.

"We have to congratulate you. You're the first person who got our names right on the first try..."

"You'll have to tell us how you did it, so we can stop giving it away... Blimy, you're Harry Potter!"

Their attention had suddenly turned to Harry, who had swept his sweaty bangs out of his eyes to reveal the lightning scar.

"Er, so they tell me" he said uncomfortably, trying to joke.

"We are the infamous Weasley twins, the names are Gred and Forge-"

"Er, actually, make that Fred and George."

"Anything you need, Harry, don't hesitate to call..."

"May it be a trunk you need stowing..."

"Or someone you need hexed... gotta go, I think that is mummy dearest calling."

"See you around Harry"

They left the compartment, and Harry turned to Nessy.

"That was weird."

Nessy nodded. "They are a bit odd. Amusing though."

"Nah, I meant the whole, 'Blimy you're Harry Potter' thing."

"Oh, you'll get used to it. Hey look, there they are on the platform with their mother. That is an awful lot of red hair isn't it? Almost blinds you..."

Harry and Nessy looked out the window at the mob of redheads. Nessy was staring at the small girl clutching her mother's hand and complaining about not being able to go to Hogwarts. That must be Ginny. Her mum.

Harry reddened as they started talking about him. The girl squeaked excitedly. "Ooh Mum! Can I go on the train and see him mum?"

Nessy giggled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. They were still pinned to the bouncing ten year old who would become the mother she never knew. Never would know.

"I think she likes you." she teased.

Harry reddened even more and gave her a shove. "Does not!"

Smirking, Nessy let it go. Outside the window the Weasleys were saying goodbye to their mum and hopping on the train. Nessy watched with regret as her mother-to-be chased the train with tears in her eyes. She'd have to wait another year to get to know her.

The compartment opened and Ron entered. He looked anxiously at the pair, and almost turned to leave, muttering he was sorry.

"No! Wait! Come sit with us! There's plenty of room!" Said Nessy rushed and eager. She had an encouragingly friendly look on her face. Almost as if she were greeting an old friend. Ron gave her an unsure look.

"Are you sure I wouldn't be butting in or anything?"

"No way." said Harry firmly.

Ron needed no more pushing, and sat down in the seat opposite Harry. He still looked a little shy, and was making a valiant effort to stare out the window at the landscape rushing past, his ears turning a little red.

"Allow me to introduce us," said Nessy in a cheery laid back voice. "I am the ever amazing stunning spectacular Nessy Thrower. Oh, and that's Harry Potter."

Her carefully crafted joke was lost on Ron however (which was all very well, since like most carefully crafted jokes, it wasn't very funny).

"So, you're really Harry Potter? And you really have the..."

Harry pulled back his bangs to reveal the lightning bolt scar.

"Wow" was all Ron could say. And then he seemed to realize he was staring and he quickly started looking out the window again, his ears now very red.

Harry was embarrassed by Ron's being embarrassed. But he was looking at the red haired boy curiously all the same.

"So, were those all your family out their on the platform? And all wizards? Wow."

"Yeah thats them," said Ron, a tiny hint of bitterness in his voice. "Five older brothers, I'm the youngest boy."

"Must've been great" said Harry, not catching the bitterness.

"If you think never getting anything new is great, and if you think five brothers worth of stuff to live up to is great. And if you like corned beef."

The last cryptic comment was met with a little confusion. Nessy giggled. She was in an excellent mood.

Ron saw the looks on their faces and clarified "I always get corned beef sandwiches when she makes us all lunch. There are so many of us to keep track of she forgets I hate them."

"It's still got to be better than the Dursleys though." said Harry, successfully moving past the sandwich meat confusion.

Harry and Ron talked for a while about shared experiences with hand me down clothes. Ron laughed when Harry told the story of the particularly hideous sweater covered in puff balls, which shrank every time Aunt Petunia tried to pull it over his head until it could have fitted a hand puppet. Throughout what would otherwise have been a brief story, Nessy kept trying to tell it for him, saying he was doing it all wrong. She would then fabricate some rather absurd details about what Aunt Petunia was wearing, or the individual names of the puff balls on the sweater. Harry was forced to remind her that she hadn't even been there.

Harry was a little surprised by the way she was acting. Usually a little reserved in conversation, even when she was telling jokes and laughing, it was strange to see Nessy so loose. It was as if a weight had been lifted from behind her eyes, and Harry couldn't figure out why. She'd gone from always having a slightly tragic demeanor, even if she didn't mean to, to acting like a complete puppydog in the course of the day.

Nessy was as happy as she'd ever been. Her family, the one that hadn't been complete since before she could remember, was finally coming back together. Her father and her uncle. Best friends since the train ride to Hogwarts their first year. And here they were on the train, talking together, sure they were worried about houses and stuff, but that was just normal stuff. And most importantly, neither one was dead. Could this scene get better?

Her question was answered with the opening of the compartment door. A bossy looking girl with lots of bushy brown hair stood there with a rather tearful looking boy. Nessy beamed.

"Have any of you seen a toad, Neville's lost one." She demanded of them in a bossy voice. "Ooh, are you doing magic? Let's see it then."

Nessy remembered this story. She'd heard it enough. When her aunt and uncle used to argue, no topic was to old to be hurled across the room, accompanied by the occasional flying cat. This was clearly a point of friction, at least for a while. Best to be avoided.

"Oh we just asked Ron to perform one of the most difficult dud spells that there is" Nessy bantered nonchalantly. "Not as simple as they appear, those dud spells. Are you ready Ron? Need time to prepare?"

Ron caught on quickly, and began rolling up his sleeves theatrically. He put his hands together over his wand, sitting with his eyes closed and perfect posture, in a way that suggested perfect concentration. Nessy and Harry started the drum roll as he drew his wand up and pointed it at the sleeping rat.

"Sunshine, daisies, buttermellow.

Turn this stupid fat rat yellow."

Absolutely nothing happened.

Harry and Nessy burst into applause.

Hermione huffed a little. "Well I don't see the use in it. If you ask me you're behaving very childishly-"

"Well no one asked you" replied Ron a little put out.

Hermione was about to respond angrily when Nessy cut in hurriedly.

"Childish? It's important! What happens when we try a spell in class and can't do it? Can you say you could face your failure with equal poise and grace? Success is getting up once more than you fall you know." Throughout her speech, she kept a slightly indignant, eager look on her face. You would have thought she meant it if the circumstances had been anything but what they were.

The boys, including Neville, who'd been quiet until then, all tried quite hard to stop from laughing, scared what the girl would do. Ron was a shade of red that clashed rather harshly with his hair, Harry was bitting his lip, and Neville looked like he was holding his breath. Hermione was just gaping at her.

Nessy dropped her eager expression and laughed loosely at the expressions of the boys. "look, you've already got them so under your control they won't even laugh at my jokes. Now thats not fair to me, can't I just have one to play with? You must teach me to instill such fear."

Even Hermione cracked a smile at that one. Nessy had known she would. After all, she'd known Hermione back in her time, and if there was one thing she liked it was to be in control, even if she didn't realize she was doing it sometimes. She'd completely pegged her.

"So you're Neville, and what's the boss's name?"

Anyone else would have gotten a superior look and a walk off in a huff for calling her that, but for some reason when this girl said it it made it okay.

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"We're Ron Weasley , Harry Potter and Nessy Thrower, and when they recover their breath, why don't you come sit with us?"

"We really should be looking for Neville's toad..."

"Oh come on Neville, you know it'll turn up. I hear toads have a habit of disappearing and reappearing and all that." Nessy addressed Neville directly. She did it unconsciously. Before Neville died in her time, he had progressed a lot from the self conscious schoolboy her dad had told her about. So she didn't think a thing about going around his self appointed spokeswoman and talking to him, but deep in Neville, it sparked a feeling that might have been the beginning of acceptance.

Nessy of course knew none of this and was simply happy when a slightly pink Neville agreed to staying in the compartment with them.

Settling down into their seats, Hermione turned her bushy head to Harry.

"You're Harry Potter then? I've read all about you of course."

"of course" echoed Ron, smirking.

Hermione turned and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.

"You just struck me as a bookworm when you walked in here." said Ron in a hostile tone.

Nessy decided to step in again. "You're a bookworm? Really? I'm so jealous." she said deadpan.

Hermione glared at her, thinking she was about to make fun of her again.

"If I were a bookworm, I might pass one of my classes this year." It had the combined effect of making Hermione stop glaring, and making Ron's face fall. It seemed all that had been taking his mind off his nerves was goading Hermione.

"Right." He said depressed.

Surprisingly it was Hermione who went to comfort him. "Oh do stop that. I'm sure you'll do fine. I'm Muggleborn, and I'm just scared I'll be completely lost, books or no books."

"Yeah," said Harry, "I grew up with Muggles too. I didn't even know the wizarding world existed until Nessy told me a month ago."

Ron was looking a little cheered, but just a little. "But everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts. I don't know what to expect the same as you. My brothers wouldn't tell me anything, unless it was the twins, and I don't trust them."

"What do you suppose it will be like?" mused Harry.

Nessy participated little in the conversation. She knew what the almost deserted Hogwarts of her time was like, and couldn't imagine it could be all that different. She just sat contentedly in her seat watching her family talk it out. Every once and a while Ron and Hermione would get in a little spat, but it was nothing serious. More like old times, for Nessy at least.

She was used to her role as the diffuser of tense situations. These were nothing compared to the silences she had to break in the future. They'd all just adored her. She was the only thing that could make them smile after a particularly trying day. She never talked about what had happened. Always picked a running joke, or the latest way to embarrass herself. They always responded with a funny story of their own. They had to go pretty far back for them.

It was how she knew so much about the past. She'd hear those stories over and over. Hogwarts were the golden years, no matter what had happened. Compared to how it would get, fighting Basilisks was the life. Nessy had always thought they were like fairy tales. After all, most of the Hogwarts stories had a happy ending.

The compartment door slammed open and three boys walked in. Malfoy and the cronies.

"They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So, It's you is it?"

Harry nodded. He was getting really tired of this.

"I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a cough that might have been masking a laugh.

"Think my names funny do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."

Ron started to stand, but Hermione held him back. "No!" she hissed "You'll be in trouble before you even get there!

Harry was standing too. But Nessy just had a dark look on her face, as she answered him. "Is that so? _My_ father told me the Malfoys have more dark secrets than their money will be able to buy them out of eventually."

Malfoy looked daggers at the small dark girl with the large sapphire eyes. "And who is your father? Some worthless blood traitor? Or is he a mudblood?" He sneered.

Nessy just smiled a dangerous smile. "Blood traitor." she announced proudly, "And who's your father? A slimy death eater or some worthless nobody who pushes money around the Ministry because he can't figure any other way to get what he wants? Ah, I see. He's both."

They glared at each other. Harry decided to step in. "I think it's time for you to leave. What do you think, guys, should we show them the door?" Ron stood up as well.

"Leave!" he spat.

With one last glare at Nessy, Malfoy and his sidekicks left the compartment. Ron was beside himself.

"Did you hear that stuck up" he called Malfoy something Hermione wouldn't have approved of if she hadn't been looking a little pale "Did you hear what he called your father Nessy! Merlin, how does he get away with stuff like that!" Hermione nodded in agreement. _Mudblood_ had clearly hit home with her.

Harry was looking curiously at Nessy. "What's a death eater?" he asked.

Nessy still had her dark expression from before. "Death eaters were Voldemort's henchmen. And there is no doubt in my mind his father was one of them." The compartment except for Harry flinched at the name.

"Come off it Nessy!" said Neville, his face white, "Why did you have to say his name?"

Nessy snorted in disgust. "It's just a name guys! Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort. Oh my goodness! I think I survived! Just barely though, that bolt of lightning that came through the ceiling when I said it nearly hit me!" she crossed her arms in annoyance. There was a pause. "Voldemort!" she finished for effect.

The compartment was staring at her, but she didn't care. Everyone except Harry had admiration in their eyes. Even Hermione who'd only just entered into this world could see that saying the name was a big deal. Nessy seemed completely oblivious though. When she calmed down, she opened up the discussion of what house they'd be in, and the compartment slowly worked it's way back to a normal conversation.

"My gran wants me to be in Gryffindor" Neville was saying sadly, "But I don't think I'm brave enough."

Ron was sympathetic "yeah, all my family was in Griffindor too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. But imagine if I wound up in Slytherin!"

"That's the house Voldemort was in wasn't it?" Harry this time.

Ron flinched at the name, but after Nessy's speech, just let it go.

"Yep." said Nessy, "But don't worry about it. That house is for slime like Malfoy."

Hermione bored them all with the pros and cons of each of the houses, before Ron managed to shut her up. They glared at each other as the others laughed. Their bickering was already becoming normal.

It was growing dark outside. The train was hurtling past towards their destination. Nessy made the boys go stand out in the hallway while she and Hermione changed into their robes. They grumbled and dragged their feet, but they all left. When she was done, she and Hermione stood out in the hallway for them. By the time they were done changing the train had begun to slow down.

And then they were there.

**Next chapter is the sorting and stuff. Really abrupt end to the chapter, but frankly, I didn't feel like being a good little writer this chapter. Whatever, review, tell me how bad I suck at this. Thanks to those who told me how to spell Weasley. Ta.**


	7. Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

**Hola people. I have writer's block. Curses. I also need to go turn off this song. Itunes keeps repeating "For the Longest time" ya know, by Billy Joel, and it isn't helping my concentration. BTW, I have ADD... If you haven't already figured that out by how random this author's note is. Anyway, forgive the forced nature of this chapter. Damn it! This song keeps making me want to write romance, which doesn't work in first year! Grrrrrrrr. Now I'm just procrastinating. Okay, I'm starting the story now... I swear... It's gonna happen... Right, lets go!**

**Not mine, seriously, I'm way to scatterbrained to have written gold like the Harry Potter books.**

Nessy and the rest stepped off the train onto a misty platform. Between the darkness, the swirling fog, and the throngs of students, none of them could see much farther than a few people away. They instinctively huddled a little closer.

Nessy noticed Neville was looking a little down as they nervously followed the flow of students. She put her arm around his shoulders, and he looked up at her with big eyes, eyebrows raised. Seemed positively shocked that someone would care enough to do that.

"It's okay Neville." whispered Nessy, "I'm sure Trevor will show up. The train probably has some kind of spell on it so people can't leave stuff behind. After all, they get our trunks to us."

Neville sniffed a little and looked grateful. He flashed her a reassuring smile, as if to say what are you talking about, nothing's the matter! But they both knew her words made him feel better.

Just then, a gigantic figure loomed out of the fog, a lantern clutched in his enormous hand, which hovered at least seven feet above their heads.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over 'ere!" he looked down at the little group of five. "Firs' years?" he asked. Neville, Hermione, and Ron were all staring at the gamekeeper with open mouths.

"Hagrid!" said Harry happily.

Nessy was more amused with her gaping friends to say hello to the man she wasn't supposed to have met yet. She tapped Hermione's chin up, and she blushed slightly, and pretended not to have been staring.

"Watch out for pixies." she commented to the others. They looked at her confused, until she made a closing action with her hand. Then the closed their mouths looking embarrassed, but Neville still stared.

Hagrid, being Hagrid, didn't even notice the awed effect he had on people. He was beaming at Harry.

"Harry! 'nd yer all firs' years?" they nodded. "Good then, foller me." He continued to walk through the throng of students, calling out for first years.

The group was very quiet. Something about the night had them all anxious about what was to come. Ron contemplated the sorting, and internally cringed at being put in Slytherin, and Neville was having similar worries about Hufflepuff and whether or not he was really magic enough to be at Hogwarts. Hermione thought that she didn't know enough spells. After all, she was muggleborn, and these people must know tons of magic, no matter what they said.

Harry's nerves were acting up, and he still had the nagging fear that it had all been a complex joke thought up by the Dursleys. He didn't actually believe that, but nerves made you think the oddest things. Add to his already racing mind the pressure of a whole world's impossible expectations, and that was how Harry was feeling as he followed the half- giant.

Nessy had very real concerns that she would mess it all up, and they'd just die sooner. That Voldemort would win at the end. That Fate was simply messing with her. That her father would hate her when he found out she lied to him. That she would change the wrong things. That the ministry would find out and she'd be thrown in jail, because she was positive this was illegal.

And so the group was quiet, as Hagrid led them down a path towards the little fleet of boats on the lake.

Nessy looked up from her contemplations and gasped. She heard four almost identical gasps all around her, and knew the others had seen it too. Hogwarts.

Wow. Thought Nessy. It's all lit up and every thing! She had never seen Hogwarts in it's running splendor. It had always been dark in her time. Not enough people to light all the rooms with torches. Too bothersome. But, Merlin, was it a fantastic sight.

As she Harry and Hermione clambered into one boat (Neville muttered he'd take another), and she stared up at the turrets and towers, lit and mysterious in a cloud of mist, It really hit her.

This wasn't her time.

Voldemort was still vanquished, be it temporarily.

Everyone she ever loved was still alive.

It was different.

It wouldn't be the same.

In the darkness of the boat, watching the lights from the castle dance and shimmer off the black surface of the lake, Nessy Thrower smiled a clear and free smile, not a bit of it forced. She was changing it. They would live.

Ducking through the curtain of ivy that hid the underground harbor, Nessy realized this was the calm before the storm. She silently swore to make the most of it.

Hagrid walked along the pebbly landing area, helping people out and checking for lost belongings.

"You there, is this yer toad?" he said bending over the boat that landed directly in front of Nessy.

"Trevor!" squealed Neville excitedly, holding out his hands. Nessy grinned knowingly. This would be the best year ever.

Professor McGonagal led them from the harbor and through the deserted entrance hall. When they reached the door to the Great hall, Nessy, lost in her thoughts about the future for her and her family, turned automatically to walk in.

"Not yet, Ms. Thrower!" said McGonagal briskly. "As eager as I'm sure you are to be sorted, you will wait with the rest of the first years in this room," She opened the door to an empty classroom across the hall, "I'm sure it won't inconvenience you?"

Nessy's cheeks colored, and she shook her head.

"Good." pronounced Professor McGonagal, and she led the way through the door, with an almost inaudible mutter about spacey Hufflepuffs.

A few people giggled.

Oh dear. Thought Nessy. Already being laughed at.

After that, Nessy just tried to make herself invisible through the speech McGonagal gave about the houses and the sorting. She did manage to shut Hermione up with a look when she started blabbering about the spells she learned. Ron seemed more impressed by that power than he was by all the spells Hermione knew.

"You've got to teach me how to do that!" he hissed in her ear, but she just shrugged it off.

After a quick ghost scare, during which Nessy didn't even flinch, something Hermione noticed with a curious look on her face, it was time.

The first years filed out in front of the four tables and Nessy gasped. There were so many of them! Students filled the four tables, and the staff one had only a few vacant chairs. She was awestruck.

She couldn't help remembering the sad look her aunt used to have in her eyes when she looked at the pitiful student body of her time. Now Nessy understood. This is the way it should be. This was how it would stay.

Nessy clenched her fists. She would fight for this.

Hermione, who was standing next to her, noticed this and was again curious, but put it off as nerves, and went back to concentrating on whispering to Ron, who was on her other side, about the enchanted nature of the ceiling.

McGonagal came forward with a stool and a hat. They all stared at it. Only Nessy knew what would happen, and as it began to sing, some of the muggleborns jumped about six feet.

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge by what you see!

I'll eat myself if you can find,

A smarter hat than me!

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall!

But I'm the Hogwarts sorting hat,

And I can cap them all!

There's nothing hidden in your head,

The sorting hat can't see!

So, try me on and I will tell you,

Where you ought to be!

You might belong in Gryfindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart!

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry,

Set Gryfindor's apart!

Or, perhaps in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind!

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind!

Or you might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal!

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true,

And unafraid of toil!

Or perhaps, in Slytherin,

You'll make your real friends.

Those cunning folk use any means,

to achieve their ends!

So, try me on!

don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands,

though I have none,

for I'm a thinking cap!

**(A.N. Okay, you guys can officially worship me because I did that entire thing from memory. Or, if you're feeling in a negative sorta mood, review and tell me how badly I did. For instance, spelling the Houses... But seriously guys, from **_**memory**_**! I'm blabbering, but good news, I finally got the initiative to shut off that song. Onward and Forward!)**

Nessy smiled. She liked this version. A lot better than some of the deeper material the hat had been spewing since she knew it. As the war darkened, it began to take it upon itself to give advice every year. A song about house unity can get old after a while...

"When I call your name, put on the hat and sit on the stool..." said Professor McGonagal.

Nessy listened with interest to the sorting. She wasn't particularly worried. She was already quite sure she would be in Gryfindor, and was completely willing to argue with the hat unto that end if it was necessary.

"Granger, Hermione" came the shrill call. Nessy watched her aunt running to the hat and giggled. So much for dignity.

"GRYFINDOR!" the hat shouted after a pause.

A few more people, a couple of familiar names. Some were death eaters. It seemed odd to Nessy that these people were trained by the very institution they would later practically destroy.

"Longbottom, Neville"

Neville sat on the stool longer than anyone before him, before the hat announced "GRYFINDOR!" and he scurried off to the table still wearing the hat. Nessy bit her lip to keep from laughing. Poor, poor Neville. He was most definitely a klutz in this time. At least she knew he would grow out of it. Well, to an extent. He was still Neville.

More people. Nessy was beginning to lose interest, though the occasional familiar name would bring her back.

"Potter, Harry" Nessy looked back down (she had been staring at the ceiling, and remembering the horcrux book) and realized the entire hall was filled with whispers.

Awkward. She thought. Didn't they have better things to whisper to each other about?

A long pause while he tried on the hat. Wow, thought Nessy. That hat really did want to put him in Slytherin. She'd heard the story from her father many times.

"GRYFINDOR!" shouted the hat, and the appropriate table exploded. Nessy made out Fred and Georges catcalls from the throng, and smiled. They were definitely among those she missed the most.

It took a while for the hall to calm down, which ticked off Nessy a little. She had inherited her father's dislike of his fame, ingrained into her subconscious by listening to thousands of his rants.

"Thrower, Nochless" she started, quickly regained her composure and walked to the stool.

"Ah, what have we here?" said the hat slyly in her ear. "Another Potter, now that's surprising to say the least. And a Parseltongue as well! My, my, haven't had one in over fifty years and then two in one sorting. Both opposed to Slytherin as well! Hmm, interesting mind you've got. You'd do well in Slytherin, of course, just like your father. You've shown some amazing cunning with this plot you've set up. But that was quite a loyal thing to do as well, and I see you're already quite adept at potions, that's an unusual aptitude for one your age, so Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff could be a fit. Hmm, no. You've got too much bravery. All you've seen, and so very young! So it's got to be GRYFINDOR!"

There was applause, but also quite a bit of annoyed muttering about how long the hat had taken to sort her. The crowd was getting hungry.

So was Nessy at that point. She took her seat at the Gryfindor table between Neville and the Weasley twins, across from Harry.

"Hey" she said energetically to the twins.

"Welcome to Gryfindor, Thrower, Nochless" said George in a perfect imitation of McGonagal. Neville snorted loudly enough for Percy a few places to shush him angrily. The sorting was still going on after all.

"I think you've gotten him in trouble, Weasley, George."said Nessy in a whispered return.

"HA!" said George loudly, causing Percy to glare at him. "You've gotten it wrong! I'm Fred, and that's George!"

Nessy just shook her head pityingly. "No he's not"

"Damn it! George, she has our number!" Said Fred amazed.

"Maybe if we..." They bowed their heads together conspiratorially, and then straightened up with deadly serious looks on their faces. They stood up and switched places.

"Okay." said Fred "Now do it again..."

"Weasley, Ron"

"... No wait, that's our Ronikins, gotta listen."

The moment the hat touched his head, it shouted "GRYFINDOR!"

"Excellent!" said George with feeling.

Nessy was shocked. "You're not actually happy for him are you?"

The twins looked horrified.

"Of course not!" snapped Fred.

"We simply have the family name to keep up!"

"Of course!" said Nessy with a smile on her face. The twins looked pained.

"Don't tell him that! It would just ruin some of our best plans if he knew we gave a damn about him!"

Nessy laughed, as Ron came up behind them.

"Cared about who?" he asked confused.

The twins glared at Nessy as though it was her fault.

"Dumbledore, Ron, we're thinking about asking him to Hogsmeade..."

As if on queue, Dumbledore stood up and said a few deep words. (you remember)

Ron laughed. "Just your type."

The food appeared without any hesitation, and Nessy was pleased to find that cooking in bulk did nothing to the quality of the house elves food.

Across the table, her father was asking someone about Snape. Nessy glanced up at the staff table. He was sitting right next to Quirrel (sp). She wasn't going to be able to get anyone to believe that bag of nerves was being possessed by Voldemort. She watched as his hand trembled and accidentally spilled the gravy boat he was holding all over Snape. As Nessy understood that this wasn't exactly an accident, she giggled.

After the feast, Dumbledore stood and gave a short speech about rules. Nessy didn't really pay attention. It wasn't like she was planning on following any of those rules anyway.

The first years filed into line behind Percy and were led to Gryfindor tower. Nessy sighed as she slipped through the portrait hole. She was home.

A girl prefect brought them upstairs and showed her and Hermione their beds. Nessy suddenly found she was overwhelmingly exhausted. She changed sluggishly, and she and Hermione threw themselves into bed. She snuggled deeper into her blankets and closed her eyes, and one last though crossed her mind before she drifted to sleep.

Things are looking up.

**Yeah! Another chapter done, of course it took more time than the others, but whatever, I had a snowday today. I don't particularly like this chapter, but I'll survive. Tell me what I did wrong, right, or all of the above, by clicking the review button. I know you're reading this. I watch how many hits I get. I'm watching you, you can't just sneak away without reviewing. So DO IT ALLRIGHT!**

**Ta.**


	8. A Mountain of Books

**Hey people. This has actually been written for a few days. So it isn't tainted by the bad case of writer's block I have today. Anyway, I actually like this one. It makes me happy. Which is sadistic, and you will understand once you've read it. **

**Not mine, swear to god. No really, it's true. I'm flattered you think so, but no.**

_Nessy woke in the semi darkness and pulled back the covers of her bed. It was morning and the clean, clear light that shone through the crack in the curtain cast a line over her pillow. It was remarkable how the sun managed to find her eyes through that tiny sliver in the curtain._

_She wandered downstairs in a daze, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The common room was deserted, a familiar sight, and she walked straight through the portrait hole without giving it a thought. She sighed. Waking up alone was a curse that had plagued her since she was a small child._

_She shivered at the eerie feeling the castle emanated to its early morning wanderer, and pulled her black robes more tightly around herself. Her feet padded the familiar route to the library. She'd spent so many days there with her father, shifting through piles of books. He always said if his wasn't careful she'd turn into Hermione. Nessy smiled sadly in remembrance. Hermione, the last headmistress._

_She turned the corner to the library, sun catching dust as it flooded through the tall windows behind the shelves. _

_She turned around a shelf to see a tall man in black robes, pouring over a book that lay on the table._

"_Morning dad" Nessy said, making the tall man jump. When he moved she could see that the book on the table wasn't open, but the cover glistened like the night sky. "Did you even go to bed last night?"_

"_Ness, what are you doing up?" he demanded forcefully, once he had adjusted to the shock she gave him. _

_Nessy frowned, her green eyes searching his face. Why did it matter she was up? And how was it she had startled him? She didn't have a memory of ever having done that before. After years of fighting Tom, it took a lot to startle Harry Potter._

"_Go back to bed Ness." Said her father, hurriedly. Nessy noticed for the first time that his eyes were wide with fear._

"_What's going to...?" _

"_Just go Nochless!" Her father nearly screamed. He was glancing around now, as if waiting for an attack. _

_Nessy was scared at the name. She stumbled back. He only used it when there was danger. But there couldn't be, this was Hogwarts. No one knew they were there. Why now? And if someone was coming, why wouldn't they leave?_

"_But no one can apparate-"_

"_The wards are failing Ness! There haven't been students for so long... Please go! You can't be hurt Nessy! Look!" He was frantic now, and with a sweeping motion, as if it would explain everything, he, pushed the bottom half of the book on the table. It separated from the top. Nessy's eyes widened. That was the last one. He would be coming now._

_She turned to run, but as she did, she heard a crack behind her, and a sudden explosion threw her and a couple bookshelves clear across the room. She landed in a heap, and was quickly buried by several hundred books. Dazed on the floor, she heard a high pitched laugh. It felt as if her heart had been filled with ice, and was slowly pumping her blood cold._

"_So, Harry Potter! It's been a while." His voice was amused, and very deadly._

"_Has it really Tom? Time just flies by. Seems like only yesterday I was watching you and Bella running away down Knockturn Alley."_

_There was no response to that, save for a series of cracks, sizzles and crashes that could only have been a volley of curses. _

_It seemed that her father had come of the worse. She heard him breathing heavily, and a quick stream dirty words was falling from his mouth. _

"_And it seemed almost yesterday, when I was having a little chat with your wife. Charming lady, what was her name? Pity she had to die." You could hear the evil smile on his lips, and even though Nessy hadn't yet extracted herself from the books, she knew the expression that had come across her father's face. Tom Riddle would never know what his words were doing to Harry Potter. He couldn't fathom the immense power that was building in his equals heart, the horrible wrath that only lost love could trigger. Tom Riddle would never know, unless Harry forced him to._

_Books slid off Nessy as she maneuvered her way to the surface. She had to see what was going on. She couldn't sit idle while her father faced the only man who could kill him. Her head breached the surface, just in time to see her father disappear. Just disappear. There was no crack, he was just gone. _

"_DAD!" She screamed, scrambling and sliding to get out of the books, but she couldn't get a grip on anything around her._

_Voldemort turned to her, a menacing smile on his face, but then he stopped, an exasperated look on his evil features._

"_You would try to possess me Potter?" he asked amused, but suddenly, his red slits that were his eyes widened, and he began to scream. He fell to his knees, writhing and twisting, like a snake in it's death throes. With every twitch he seemed to become more like a man, less like the creature that the last bit of his soul had taken to haunting._

_And then he was still and there was silence. Nessy sat shocked, no longer trying to escape the pile of books. What was going on? And then the black haired body on the ground shifted, and another black haired man seemed to fall out of him. Her father got to his feet, took two sure steps towards her, and crumpled to the ground as if he had never even had muscles to hold him up. _

"_DAD!" Nessy screamed again, even louder this time, and throwing aside _A Thousand and One Ways to Make Your Pet Rat More Interesting _ she kicked and wriggled wildly until she was sliding down an avalanche of books. She crawled, sobbing to her father's side. "dad" she cried wetly, her long flyaway black hair getting stuck to her face by her tears._

Nessy thrashed about in her bed. "Dad" she whispered weakly, as tears slid down her face. "Dad..."

"Nessy wake up! It was only a dream!" Hermione was shaking her. Her eyes flicked open, wet and blue. She trembled helplessly, as she looked up into the young face of someone who'd once been like a mother to her. She didn't realize her surroundings.

"Me' mums eyes..." she muttered weakly.

"Someone go find Professor McGonagall" Hermione said over her shoulder to the girls standing behind her. Someone, she thought it was Lavender, sprinted through the door.

"Professor..." Nessy was still trembling. Her eyes were looking up at Hermione, shrouded with disbelief. She still hadn't fully woken up yet. She was still living in the future, where Professor Granger was dead and gone.

"That's right, Lavender's gone to get Professor McGonagall" Hermione calmly. She hadn't realized Nessy was talking about her.

"McGonagall..." She said confused, and then something about her eyes changed. They widened in the shock of remembering, and then she began to cry again. There was a surreal quality about her big sapphire eyes when they were filled with tears. She had remembered. This wasn't her Hermione, who'd comforted her when her father was out late, and it wasn't certain if he would return. This wasn't the Professor who had dedicated her life to making sure that Hogwarts remained open, who had taught until the last student was taken home. Who tutored her in potion making before she was supposed to be taught. This was just a girl her age. She was still alone.

A light from spilled through the door as it opened into the dark dormitories.

"What's all this?" said a stern voice, that softened as McGonagall's eyes fell on the quivering girl. "Come now Miss Thrower. Come with me."

McGonagall helped the crying girl out of bed and started to lead her towards the common room.

"I'm okay, I'm fine, no really." Protested the still sobbing girl as she helplessly was led out the portrait hole. Why wouldn't the tears stop? She'd never not been able to make them stop.

"Everlasting Gobstopper" said McGonagall primly to the gargoyle that hid the headmaster's office. It leaped aside. Usually girls found crying at night were not taken to see Dumbledore, but he'd asked her to keep an eye on this one, and she knew when to assume there was something more to the situation.

She steered the sniffling girl up the stairs, and wondered what the dream had been to cause such a reaction. The poor girl had been a wreck since she had gotten her. You would think she would have run out of tears by now.

There was a choking sound from the small girl as they reached the door, and the Professor looked down to see the girl's eye's tightly shut, her face screwed up as she tried to force the tears to stop. Nessy's breathing slowed as she attempted to stop the wracking sobs. By the time a tired looking Dumbledore had answered the door wearing a floppy golden nightcap and matching slippers, she'd gotten herself together. Sort of.

Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing quietly. Tears still glistened on her cheeks as she stood facing the headmaster, but she quickly brushed those away.

"I told you I was fine Professor." She stated in a tightly reigned voice. McGonagall just stared at her.

"Come in Professor, Miss Thrower." Said Dumbledore in a tired, yet cheerful voice. His eyes were sad however.

They walked in, and sat facing the comical looking headmaster in the two seats across from the desk. Dumbledore settled behind it.

"So, before we begin, Minerva, I think you need to be filled in on some details." He hadn't thought it would be necessary to tell his deputy headmistress the truth about the young time traveler, but that had quickly proved to be wrong.

He quickly outlined the fantastic tale for the stunned woman before him. Throughout the entire tale, Nessy kept her eyes screwed shut, and said nothing.

"But Albus!" said McGonagall when he had finished, "Why?..." she glanced at Nessy "She's so young! Why couldn't..."

"They're all dead" said Nessy, a little louder than she had intended. A quick stream of tears forced their way out of her eyes, which she just pressed tighter closed. Her shoulders were quivering.

McGonagall tried to put a comforting hand on Nessy's back, but she jerked away. Dumbledore sighed.

"You should let yourself cry, Nessy. Holding it all inside wont help you in the end."

Nessy just shook her head. She let go a trembling breath, and relaxed her shoulders. Then she opened her eyes.

"Would you care to tell us what your dream was about, Miss, er, Potter?" Said McGonagall tentatively.

"My dad" said Nessy sadly.

"Which-" Professor McGonagall was about to ask, but Dumbledore held up his hand.

"Go on" he said.

"Well, it was the day he died," Nessy recounted the story as accurately as she could remember. When she got to the end, she choked, and closed her eyes tight again.

"Interesting." said Dumbledore musingly.

McGonagall just looked shocked. "That happens here?" she said palely, "In the Hogwarts Library!"

"No" said Nessy plainly, her eyes still shut tight.

"No?" asked Dumbledore curiously.

"No, it won't happen here. Not anymore." The angry blue eyes snapped open, anger flowing from them like electricity.

"No it won't" said McGonagall kindly, and the blue eyes softened considerably.

"What are you thinking about Albus?" Asked McGonagall curiously, for the old man seemed lost in thought.

"I was just puzzling over the cause of Lord Voldemort's demise." he said carefully. McGonagall shuddered at the name, but Nessy looked a little surprised.

"What do you mean, Professor?" It had never occurred to her to think of what had killed Voldemort. As far as she had considered, her father had killed him, and she needn't think further than that. Merlin knew she had avoided thinking of that morning as long as she could.

"Well, the way you described it Nessy, Your father disappeared, and then Voldemort dropped dead. I was just considering the possible reasons."

"And what do you think, Albus?" Asked McGonagall eagerly.

"Love." Said Dumbledore. That was it for Nessy. This old codger was mad.

"Love?" she gaped at him. "I don't think there was any love lost between my dad and Tom Riddle..."

"No, but your father's love for your mother." said Dumbledore cryptically. The two girls, one eleven, one somewhere in her mid fifties stared across the desk at the silver haired man with the funny night cap on. He elaborated, looking at Nessy in the eye. "The power the dark lord knows not." This seemed to clear a little of the confusion up for Nessy, but McGonagall just looked even more puzzled.

Dumbledore began to explain. "Love" he began "Is a wonderful and terrible thing. Lost love, as Nessy, you found out over and over again, hurts more than the cruciatus curse. More than the worst torture wizard kind could dream up. Voldemort knows nothing of this. He is incapable of love. What he fears most of all, is death. When he goaded your father about the loss of your mother, he caused him pain beyond Voldemort's own twisted imagination. Your father must have been aware of his weakness. He possessed Voldemort, and forced on the mind of a man who has known only hate and cruelty, a heart full of the torture of lost love. Voldemort could not stand the pain. He died of it."

McGonagall was looking amazed, maybe even a tiny bit skeptical. Love so powerful it could kill did not fit into her four corners and four walls way of thinking about magic.

Nessy on the other hand, believed every word. It sounded familiar, as if perhaps she had heard it before. Maybe her father had mentioned Voldemort's weakness before... But she was still confused.

"But Professor," she began carefully "If that's true, why did my father die too?"

Dumbledore looked at her sadly. "If he were possessing Voldemort, it would have been their shared pain."

"So," Nessy was looking a bit desperate now. "There's another way to kill him right? Once we get all the Horcruxes, we can just use Avada Kedavara right?" Please tell me he won't have to die again. Just tell me that. She finished the last bit in her head.

Dumbledore sighed heavily.

"I don't know, Nessy. I just don't know."

Nessy didn't try to stop it this time. She burst into tears, and nothing for the rest of the night could calm her down.

**Poor Nessy... what am I talking about, it's so much more fun to write her cracking up than actually sane. Which doesn't mean this will be one of those pathetic dramas where the main character does nothing but cry. This if a one time thing for my... I mean your enjoyment. This is a good chapter in my opinion, cause it explains stuff. I like explaining stuff. I also like McGonagal behaving confused. It makes me happy. Review, tell me what you think of my reason Voldy died, and I'll be seeing you!**

**Ta.**


	9. Sticking it to the Man

**Yeah! Finally I get another chapter up. Sorry guys, I was having school issues but now I'm on vacation so I'll be faster. Tell me what you think. I can barely remember what happened in the beginning of this chapter I wrote it so long ago. Ahwell.**

**BTW, not my characters, k?**

The next day, Nessy was a little tired, but she felt better. She had allowed herself to cry, for the first time in a very long time, and it felt good to let out the emotion. She was still worried about the possibility that her father would have to die no matter what, but she was reminded of something Hagrid used to say. What would come would come, and she'd meet it when it did. There _were_ other ways to kill Voldemort. All she had to do was wait to find them.

She had to explain to Hermione and the others at breakfast what had happened. The other first year girls knew she hadn't come back to the dormitory, and Hermione had told the boys about her nightmare. She explained it was about the night her father died, and they didn't pry. Harry had already known her father was dead, and they understood it was a sore spot.

On the way to their first lessons, the other first year Griffindors were a little surprised to find Nessy already knew her way around. She walked confidently to charms without once falling through a trick stair or taking a false turn.

She had an explanation ready when they asked, and told them that after her father died this summer, Dumbledore had let her stay at Hogwarts for a few weeks while they found her a home.

"He would have let me stay all summer" she explained "if there hadn't been anyone willing to take me in. After all, in a couple months this would be my home anyway."

This seemed a satisfactory explanation for her schoolmates, and from then on they were quite happy to have her to tell them where they were supposed to be going.

Nessy was quite good in all their classes. She'd been taught the basics already, and it gave her a head start that she didn't plan to waste. Hermione was the only one who held a candle to her. Well, actually, Hermione was close to being just as good as she was. It didn't surprise her, but it still frustrated her a little. Couldn't she enjoy being the head of the class for the second it was going to last? But it didn't worry her much.

The class she was really looking forward to was potions. She was going to be miles ahead of the rest of the class. In fact, she could probably pass her newts right now. She started learning them when she was around five, as it was the only kind of magic that you didn't need to be mature enough to learn, and she'd showed real interest in the subject, something her dad could never understand. But then there was nothing wrong with the subject if you weren't being taught by someone with greasy hair, a hooked nose and a grudge against your family.

Taught by Hermione, and later once she was dead, her father, she became quite good at brewing complex potions. Indeed, she came in quite handy when there were injuries that needed healing, and no adult could be spared to brew the correct potions.

She hadn't known Snape. He'd died when she was nine, at the hands of Voldemort himself, that much she knew. He'd been very helpful to their cause, but what she remembered about him was the stories her father told about the grudge Snape had against his father, and how that had translated to make potions living hell for him.

With the knowledge that he hated anyone who wasn't a Slytherin being good at potions, the strong willed girl only had one thing in mind.

She wanted to stick it to him.

The day of double potions came with Nessy in high spirits. The first half of the class was note taking, and utterly dull. Except for the beginning, when Professor Snape decided to ask Harry a lot of rather random questions he knew Harry wouldn't know. Needless to say, Nessy was fuming. Hermione on the other hand, was bouncing in her seat trying to get called on.

"Hermione," she hissed quietly. Nessy was very good at hissing out words so softly no one else could hear them. Maybe it had something to do with knowing Parsletongue. "Hermione, he isn't going to call on you. He's just making an example of Harry. And you're just making a fool of yourself. Put your hand down."

Hermione did as she was told, looking a bit sheepish, and a couple of the Griffindors giggled.

"Silence." Said Snape venomously.

"And as for you Potter..." he rattled off the answers to the bizarre array of questions he had asked, and sent the entire class scrambling for quills and parchment.

Nessy sat with her head in her hand though the entire note taking portion. Every once and a while she would jot something down, just to look like she was doing something, or to remember what he was looking for when he set an essay, but otherwise it was a productive hour for her artistic skills, and by the end she found that she could do a very accurate drawing of Snape's hooked profile. And then, finally, they got to brew something.

It was a simple concoction to cure boils, but still, she always loved the way potions simmered and sparked different colors. It really was her passion. She turned to her partner, Neville, who was looking so terrified of the teacher, she doubted he'd by much help at all. Not that she needed it.

"Okay Neville," she said to him the moment they were at their cauldron, "Nothing goes in the potion unless I see it, right? This is my thing, so just watch and learn." she rolled up her sleeves dramatically, and he giggled a little. "Right, now start chopping up those porcupine quills. Whatever you do don't add them till I take the cauldron of the fire... If you want to know, that would melt it. Not the quills you prat, the cauldron... Yes that would be bad."

By the end of class, only they and Hermione had finished, and theirs was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Nessy had examined every ingredient that went in, making sure it was cut right, and generally obsessing over every detail. Snape walked by and paused with surprise. He could have made this potion. Sure, it was simple, but still, for a first year... He looked at the brewers. Defiant blue eyes stared back, arms crossed, daring him to find something wrong with it.

"Ten points from Griffindor for cheating." he said smoothly, and moved on to the next cauldron.

Nessy's jaw dropped open. Her eye's flashed dangerously.

"Cheating!" she exclaimed, face going bright red. How dare he say that about her! Especially about her specialty!

"Yes, Thrower, cheating. You could not have made that potion honestly. You did not even pay attention in class when I explained the theory. Just be grateful I did not take off more."

Nessy ignored Neville tugging on her robes trying to make her let it go.

"But you gave us the directions! What could I have done to cheat, have an extra copy of them!"

"I do not need to know how you cheated, Thrower, to know that it happened. Now kindly take your seat or I will be forced to take another ten points from your house!" Snape was standing over her now, black eyes fixed on angry blue ones. He could say one thing for this arrogant Griffindor. She wasn't scared of him. She stared right back, and slowly, ever so slowly, sat back down on her stool. She decided she wasn't going to like this class at all.

The bell rang, and the class packed up their ingredients and left the gloomy dungeons.

"Whao!" said Ron excitedly, as he Nessy, Harry, Hermione and Neville walked together up the steps leading out of the dungeons. "What was his problem!"

Nessy scowled. "I can't believe he thought we cheated. Ask Neville! We didn't do anything different from the rest of the class! We followed the directions he gave us, and we did them right! Is there anything the bloody hell wrong with doing a potion right!" the group nodded sympathetically.

Harry was especially angry. "I bet he didn't even think you did it wrong either! He was probably just angry someone cracked his lesson. Wanted to teach you a lesson for getting it to quickly."

Nessy snorted. "Because god forbid that might actually make him a good teacher! Now, we can't have that!"

The group laughed as the strode down the grounds to see Hagrid. Harry had received an invitation to see him that morning, and figured he wouldn't mind if he brought his friends along too. He didn't. He was delighted to have more people to try to serve his rock cakes to.

Neville asked quite politely if he had actually used rocks. This shocked the entire hut for a moment before they burst out laughing.

"Seriously though Hagrid," Nessy added as they were calming down. "You aren't supposed to put actual rocks in them. We'll break our teeth..."

"I know I ain't much of a cook" said Hagrid good naturedly, which made them all relieved they had to stop pretending. There was a universal sound of clinking as the rock cakes were put back on the plates.

"So, 'ow was yer first week?" Asked Hagrid curiously.

"Interesting" said Hermione.

Ron snorted loudly. "yeah, interesting. That's one thing you could call it."

Hermione pursed her lips, in a way that reminded Nessy strongly of Professor McGonagall. She pondered for a moment whether it was a trait that existed naturally in all teachers or Hermione had simply picked it up quite quickly.

"And what would you call this week Ron, if you have such a better vocabulary than me?"

"I was just saying you were understating it a little, do you have to get so defensive?"

"I'm not being defensive, you were being a prat!"

"A prat! All I said was 'that's one thing you could call it'!"

"It's not what you said it, was your tone."

"My tone! You sound like my mother."

"Fine Ron, lets just skip maturity and go right into name calling."

"Maybe if you weren't being such an uppity know- it- all who can't even take one sarcastic comment..."

The argument continued in the back round as Neville and Nessy explained the more interesting occurrences of their week to Hagrid. It really was a tribute to how much those two argued that everyone was already used to it. Hagrid did cast them a few curious looks, but kept the amusement in his eyes to a bare minimum.

Harry was reading a clipping from the daily prophet on the table. Suddenly he exclaimed.

"Hagrid! This Gringots break in, it was happened on my birthday! It might even have been happening while we were there!"

"Right, the sorcerers stone." said Nessy with only the vaguest thought.

The hut fell under a spell of silence. Ron and Hermione even stopped arguing to give Nessy confused looks.

Nessy herself was a little surprised at their reactions. They were looking at her as if she was crazy. And then it suddenly came back to her in a swift and horrifying second. Her father hadn't found out what had been stolen from Gringots until much later. This would be interesting. Well, interesting was one way you could put it.

"I, uh..." she started.

"'ow did you know about that?" said Hagrid a gobsmacked look on his face. Nessy had to giggle.

"My, er, dad told me about it. I think he met Flamel once, or read about him or something. He thought it was foolish to keep something like the sorcerer's stone around when Voldemort (certain people in the hut flinched) was looking for a way to get his body back." she said completely truthfully. Except for that for the part about meeting Flamel. All and all she was pretty proud of her lie.

"Blimey Nessy, who's yer dad?" asked Hagrid in bewilderment.

"Dead" said Nessy bluntly.

The hard silence that followed was broken hastily by Hermione.

"What's the sorcerer's stone?" They all looked inquisitively at Hagrid, who fidgeted nervously.

"Nuthin' you didn't hear nuthin' here. Students aren't supposed ta know, and Nessy, yeh should keep it ta yerself. I'd be in trouble if'n they knew ya knew. They'd think I told yeh."

Nessy nodded, killing herself for being so stupid as to just go and blab about a gigantic secret. She'd never been so loose-jawed in her life. It was just that when her father told her the story it always skipped to the more interesting bits, and hours in the library researching Flamel was only mentioned in passing. Those things always seemed so minor in hindsight, months of wondering compressed into the simple line 'and then we figured it out'."

The five friends, who would soon be known at Hogwarts as... absolutely nothing, because I think naming a group of friends is corny, (What did you want me to call them, the fuchsia five?) left Hagrid's hut soon afterwards.

Almost as soon as they'd closed the door everyone turned to Nessy. There was a pause.

"Well?" asked Hermione.

This one word created a veritable avalanche of questions from everyone except Harry, who simply waited for the rest to quiet, and then asked in a quiet voice. "Could Voldemort come back?"

Nessy's heart clenched painfully in her chest at the sadness in her father's voice.

"Well" She began, "The sorcerer's stone is a nifty little trinket that turns ordinary metal to gold and creates the elixir of life, which prevents the drinker from dying. There's only one in the world, and I kinda guessed from all those times my dad used to tell me about how dangerous such a thing was, and how it was bound to be stolen, that that was what the thief was after. Turns out I was right. I didn't mean to make an uproar, I just sorta spoke without thinking, and well, yeah." she finished lamely.

"So if Voldemort gets his hands on this thing, he could make himself a new body" said Harry calculatingly.

"That's the theory." said Nessy in her milk chocolate with seriousness filling voice.

The first years walked in silence for a while, in a line side by side up towards the front doors.

Then a voice rang out from the end.

"We should probably stop that shouldn't we?" It was Neville, and as always when he spoke, everyone was left a little surprised. He was generally so shy and bumbling, but every now and again, as in the case of the rock cakes, he was able to voice something everyone else couldn't even begin to say.

"Yeah," said Ron. "We Probably should."

**Horrah! Another chapter completed! Not my best work, I have to say, but whatever, the world goes on. Now, what I really want from people is criticism of how I portray the characters, or the speed of the story, or anything I haven't mention. Or you could send me a review ranting about your day, or how much you can't wait for book seven. I don't care. Just talk to me people! **


	10. Who's your Daddy? Part I

**Hello people. Well, after my loverly long stint of updating quickly, it wore off. Sorry, life went crazy, but hey, now school is over, wahoo!!! I'm psyched!!!! Anyway, I'd love some constructive criticism, and if anyone feels like it, they can make recommendations for the plot. Please tell me if something annoys you, or you don't think something is as cannon as it should be or anything like that. Usually when I do that, I get an angry reply about how flamers can go to hell, even when I say it politely, but be not alarmed! I want to hear it.**

If I owned Harry Potter, why the hell would I post this on a FAN fiction website?

It was a Saturday morning in late October, and a slight figure stood over a wooden table in the Griffindor common room, her wispy black mop of hair in a snarly mess that suggested she had opted against brushing it for the time being.

Nessy swirled her wand.

"Bareglio!" she proclaimed sharply.

The blue pineapple sitting on the desk in front of her gave a start, and immediately began a rendition of the Can- Can.

"No you bloody idiot!" Shouted Nessy frustratedly (the blue pineapple turned a bit purply, and quivered to an embarrassed halt) "You're supposed to tap- dance! Not Can- Can! Now lets try this again... Bareglio!"

The pineapple darkened and swiveled around, clearly offended.

"Don't give me that attitude! I'm not the one who can't tap dance!" the pineapple remained unchanged.

"Merlin, Nessy, how many times have you charmed that thing?" Ron commented as he and Harry scrambled through the portrait hole, coming from breakfast. Harry's eyes widened at the defiant pineapple.

"I've been at this all morning! I think I did something to make it inteligent. This thing hates me!" Nessy practically screamed, slumping backwards onto a chair. Meanwhile, the pineapple was shifting a bit guiltily, and didn't seem as dark a blue .

"Is it alive?" Asked Harry curiously, bending down so he was eye level with the tabletop, and consequently, the pineapple.

It swiveled angrily again, and began to roll away.

"No! Wait, please! I'm sorry I yelled at you! I didn't mean it!" Nessy cried. But it was too late. The navy pineapple had already rolled off the table and out of sight.

"Sneaky little thing isn't it?" Ron commented, but Harry still looked a little taken aback.

"Makes you wonder about eating pineapple" he said with a frown on his face. There was a thump somewhere to their left, which made them assume that wherever the conscious pineapple had taken refuge, it was still listening.

Nessy sighed and put her feet up on the desk that had served as the pineapple's dance floor. "So what are you two up to?"

She knew something was wrong from the looks they gave each other. Those kind of looks always proceeded a planned confrontation. Those kind of looks were universal introduction to awkward subjects. She braced herself for another grilling on the stone. For the first few days after she told them about it, the only thing they discussed was the stone.

Did she know anything else about it? Had her father told her where it was hidden? Was it really in that much danger?

The questions were endless, and so were the arguments. Hermione didn't understand why the stone was in any danger, what with Dumbledore and Hogwarts protecting it. "And even if it is in danger," she would say "Why are we responsible to keep it safe? What can we do that the teachers can't?"

"The teachers aren't gods Hermione, so stop treating them like they are!'' Ron would reply, to which Hermione would huff in a way that suggested a bird ruffling it's feathers.

Harry would just say they needed to be sure, no matter how much protection the stone had, that Voldemort couldn't get his hands on it.

And as much as she tried, Hermione could never really argue with that.

And so, as Nessy watched her father and her uncle exchange that look, she braced herself to not let on how much she knew of the protections surrounding the stone. One slip up had been enough. She was just lucky they weren't more suspicious.

With that final thought, it is unsurprising that Nessy froze solid the moment Ron opened his mouth to say...

"Nessy, Who's your father?"

A solid block of eternity passed before Nessy found herself able to blink. Then with that tiny flicker of her eyelids, she broke her trance, and promptly fell out of her chair.

"Huh?"

"Nessy! "

She scrambled back into the chair, hastily stood up to adjust her pajamas, and sat back down in an almost dignified manner. Harry and Ron did nothing. They were to busy starring at the comedy unfolding before them.

"Um, what guys?" Nessy said unconvincingly.

"Your father, Nessy. What did he do? How did he know about the stone? What else did he tell you?"

Relief traced her eyes, and soaked down towards her mouth, where it released a sigh of "Oh, is that what you meant?"

Ron and Harry exchanged another look, but this one was of puzzlement.

"What else would we mean?" Harry ventured.

"Nothing, I- Nothing at all." Nessy clipped off at a speed to match her heart rate from seconds before.

There was a pause.

"Well?" prompted Harry.

"Well what?"

"Nessy!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, alright? It's just still a bit of a sore subject"

Harry fixed her a short stare that meant he didn't quite believe her, but didn't comment.

Nessy took a deep breath, scraping desperately for time to make up a story.

"Well," She said...

**TBC** **I didn't want to end the chapter here, and it's very short, but I'm tired, I just had my final exam, and I wanted to post something. Expect part 2 tomorrow.**

**Criticize me people!**

**ta.**


	11. Who's your Daddy? Part II

**Don't you love it when authors set dates for the next update (tomorrow, for instance) And then don't follow through. That is my attention span. Yes indeed. Two weeks later, but we can say this counts as tomorrow. Or that I am a time traveler and it has been only one day. In fact, I have no idea what you people are talking about. I updated only yesterday.**

**If I wrote Harry Potter, it never would have been finished. **

Nessy took a deep breath, scraping desperately for time to make up a story.

"Well," She said...

And then a voice sounded behind her, the sweet sound of salvation from the thirty foot venomous cobras currently circling her feet. Or at least thats what you would have thought by the look on her face as Nessy swung around in her chair to see who had called her name.

Her head nearly clocked her savior's nose as she turned, only to freeze as she caught sight of the dust- colored robes at her eye level. Slowly, ever so slowly, she raised her gaze to meet the grey- brown eyes that she knew far to well in her opinion.

"Hiya Nessy" Fate said cheerfully.

"You!" she accused halfheartedly, still too grateful to muster her usual annoyance.

"Indeed, it is I!" exclaimed the boy with a sweeping bow "And I see your standard greeting has not changed."

"What are you doing here?"

To this Fate gave an amused but chiding look. The sort of look one would give to a kitten who misbehaved. "What do you think I'm doing here?" He moved his eyes to stare pointedly at the two boys, frozen in time.

"You froze them!" Exclaimed Nessy, budding anger in her voice.

"What? No,'Thanks a lot Fate' 'I'm so grateful Fate' 'Whew, good timing Fate' 'You're so handsome when you're saving my but Fate', or any of that? Just 'You froze them.' So much for gratitude."

"You didn't freeze Ms. Figg."

"I like to mix it up"

Nessy crossed her arms, her pride battered by Fate's banter. "Okay then, what do you want."

Fate put his hands up as a peace offering. "I just want to give you time to come up with a good cover, so you don't blow it"

"You thought I'd blow it?"

"What- No! Why do you have to get all defensive all the time?"

"Why do you have to pop into my business all the time?"

"Hey! You're the one who called me!"

"Say what?"

"Your thoughts were, and I quote "I need time, anyone, please, time."

It was a silence more complete than any Nessy had heard before. Nothing moved, everything caught up in either time, or the knowledge that someone had read their mind.

"Can you-" Nessy began.

"No" said Fate before she could finish, not the most reassuring thing considering the circumstances.

"But-"

"Drop it Nessy. I can't read minds. All I did was intercept a call for help. Be grateful. I don't answer everyones."

"So..." said Nessy, the wind lost from under her wings by a disturbing revelation.

"So, ideas for your father's profession." steered Fate, his annoying helpfulness returned.

"Right-" said Nessy awkwardly "Right, we should do that."

"It needs to be something that can't be traced." Fate tried again.

"Can't be many of those"

"Something to explain the amount of information he had, and subsequently give you a way to explain your wealth of top secret knowledge."

"Uh- Huh"

"Are you going to contribute, or shall I just tell you what to say?"

"No, no, I'm just thinking."

"Do you mind doing it out loud?"

"Why don't you just read my mind."

"Let's not start this again..."

"A spy."

Fate blinked. Such a small thing to surprise the great and wise Fate.

"Yes." he said carefully. "Yes, a spy would work very well. Henry Thrower. He peddle\ information. Talk to Dumbledore. Together, you could make him infamous. Who did he work for? Only the best. With that description you'll have the most powerful men in the country convincing each other he worked for them. Everyone will be Henry Thrower's confidant. And he will know all the secrets. Some he must have shared with you."

"He'll be a tribute to my old dad."

"And and inspiration to your new one" Fate spun excitedly on the spot. "Oh, this is brilliant! It even explains why you were anxious about talking to the boys about him!" He spun back to face her. "Come now! Sit back down. You've got to be in the exact same spot when I restart time or it'll look like you aparated."

Nessy lowered herself back into her seat at the table, pushing a tangled lock of hair behind her ear. She didn't even remember getting up from her seat in the first place.

"All right Nessy." Fate said "Three, two, one, and ta ta for now!"

And then he was gone, and the remainder of her family was sitting across from her, looking expectant.

She took a deep breath. "Well," She said, "It's like this."

The lie left her tongue in normal, if nervous, sentences. They hung believably in the air, with just the right amount of hesitation, of self consciousness, of hope they would believe her. And they did. Every word.

When she was done, she excused herself. She walked straight out of the portrait hole, and towards the gargoyle that hid the headmaster's office. Along the way, she only stopped once. In the girl's toilet, where she was sick into the basin. She wiped her mouth and looked at her reflection. She should have brushed her hair, before going to see the headmaster, but something told her he wouldn't care.

'But why?' she thought, as she continued on her way, 'Why did that story effect me so?' It wasn't as if she'd never lied to him. What child had never lied to her father? And then, as she reached the gargoyle a voice spoke, the small voice that speaks from the back of your head,, and never quite sounds like you. '

'You've replaced him'

And so she had. Her father was no longer Harry Potter, it was Henry Thrower, secretive spy. Harry Potter wasn't just dead anymore, he was gone from her. Gone from her name. Gone from her words. And gone from her eyes.

**Bum bum bum!!! Hoped you liked it, Hope I get the next one up quicker, and hope you review. Wow, I really have a thing for repetition today.**


	12. Musings and Misgivings

**Okay, I'm officially sheepish. Did you know that I had intended to have this story finished, yes that's right _finished_ by the time the seventh book came out? Yeah, I was going to do a chapter a day once school ended, I've got it all blocked out and know where it's going. I won't even go into the kind of hell that broke loose in my life. If you want the full description, message me, I'm happy to share, but until then, enjoy this small filler chapter as a peace offering. I sorta wrote it to warm up and get back into writing this. It's also a lead in to the master plan, which should be coming soon in a chapter near you! Either way, forgive me. I don't even feel worthy to beg for reviews. **

For the first year Griffindors, Nessy Thrower was an amusement, if not exactly unpredictable. They knew that she would arrive fifteen minutes late to breakfast without exception, and exacerbate the situation by stumbling into anyone within ten meters of her path. They knew that she would wolf her food as quickly as she could, only to curse if she finished early that she could have slept longer. They knew her hair would always look as if it needed brushing, and she would always run her fingers through it, trying to make her flyaway hair fall in a way that looked halfway intentional without having to run up to her dormitory for a brush. They knew that she would fail at this everyday, and would take it with a smile.

They all knew that if Nessy were ever to walk into breakfast on time, with a tie in her hair, and sit down on the bench only to put her head on her plate with a clink, that they shouldn't bother her.

So on the morning of Halloween, when her head had hit the plate, Neville didn't bother asking her that question that he had about the transfiguration homework, and turned to Hermione instead.

Nessy had had a rough night. Around four in the morning, she was wakened by a rhythmic tapping beside her ear, and turned to find the blue pineapple, which had been suspiciously absent for the last three days, tap dancing on her bedside table.

"So _now_ you can tap dance!" Nessy had cut rather harshly through her sleep clouded eyes, unable to see as the bright blue fruit changed to a stunning, vibrating, red within an instant, pulsing at rage that she could be so flippant at its newly acquired skill, and proceeded to keep up a steady tapping for the rest of the night.

So when the rest of the dormitory awoke, Nessy could be found with her head jammed beneath her pillow in an attempt to drown out the jazzy pineapple.

Perhaps that had been the most recent straw, but the truth was that a lot had been weighing on her mind in the last three days. Ever since she lied about her father, Nessy had been trying to figure things out, but her brain was just too saturated with everything had been going on. She felt like she had suddenly run out of fuel and couldn't recharge long enough to take a valid look at what she had been doing, and what she was planing on doing.

After all, she had come back to change something, to give her family a hope of survival, but all that she had done so far was let slip a piece of vital information accidentally. It wasn't part of any major plan, and she couldn't see how that had accomplished anything. After all, the sorcerers stone was barely an issue in the greater scheme.

Perhaps her family was coming together a bit sooner then it had originally, but having known then in her time, Nessy couldn't imagine them being any closer than they were.

So what had she done here? Was she wasting the chance she was given? She felt as if she had spent more time covering up who she was than being helpful. But then, would telling them be a good idea? Surely not. Imagine how awkward it would be to have a daughter a few months older than you.

No, her charade must continue, if she wished to remain her father's friend and confidant.

Why, oh why hadn't she thought this all out beforehand, why wait till now. It was just like the slip up with the sorcerer's stone, in planning ahead, large stretches of monotonous time are completely forgotten, only the hectic scenes are prepared for. Nessy just wasn't cut out for this planning bit.

So, what plans should she make? It was hard, coming up with actions to take when Voldemort was not directly in front of her. What could she do in her first year, now when nothing was happening, that could influence the war. If she waited until the war came to them, would it be too late, as it was in her time?

Should they be training? But how to explain that? And who would teach them? Perhaps she should ask Dumbledore to tell Harry the prophecy, but did he trust them enough to share it yet? Would he pull away to protect them, before their friendship was strong enough to resist such an action?

And there was always the question of how they would do it. How they would kill the greatest wizard save Dumbledore perhaps, when in another life it had required the life of her father to kill him, not to mention his heartbreaking memories.

It was too much, and she was too tired.

So her head stayed planted firmly on that plate.

No one needed to ask what was wrong. After all, the headline of that morning paper spelled it out in terms they could understand.

**Top Secret Operative Henry Thrower Confirmed to have Died this Summer**

Poor Nessy, they all thought, to have such a fresh wound thrown at her publicly.

And so they let her be, and she kept up her infuriating thoughts, oblivious to the cover story of the daily prophet, and what it would mean for her.

**Ta da! Told you it was short. I think it's pretty interesting though, a look into how unprepared she really is for all this. Anyway, expect quicker updates, veterans day coming up, if I don't have another by then, feel free to send me bubotuber pus.**

**By the way, I might be looking for a Beta, just to look over my work, as my proofreading skills are lacking and you may have noticed a make many careless errors. I've never had a beta before, so if anyone is willing to give it a try, message me and we'll work something out.**


	13. The Plan

Bubotuber pus. Lots of Bubotuber pus.

Delicacy doesn't typically come to mind when one describes the behavior of students from the ages of eleven to seventeen, but the wizards and witches of Hogwarts School had just enough that it wasn't until after lunch that she discovered the headline of the daily prophet. That, or she'd mistaken the whispers of passersby discussing her father to apply to the far younger version of him standing next to her who had a habit of attracting such attention.

But such a delicate guise of pity was no match for the class the first year Griffindors were expected to attend last period that day. This might have had something to do with who else was expected to attend: namely the first year Slytherins.

No, if ever there was an environment less suited to subtlety than double potions with the Slytherins, than it likely included more than a few trolls.

Merlin knows they'd have to exceed the number that flanked Malfoy as Harry, Ron and Hermione approached the dungeons with Nessy and Neville dragging their feet a few paces behind.

"Oy. OY! Potter, now it all makes sense!" called Pansy Parkinson a little too eagerly over the heads of Crabbe and Goyle, and giggling all the while.

"What are you talking about Parkinson?" asked Ron impatiently.

Pansy just giggled, as Malfoy took over the oration "Well, of course, why the great Harry Potter would bother to spend time with a nothing like Thrower. We were all so confused until we realized she had a famous father." He sneered as Nessy gave a start "After all, you can never get an early enough start on your _connections _if you want to go anywhere. Should have known you wouldn't waste your time on trash."

"And just what am I if not TRASH?!?" said a very crimson, very inarticulate, very freckled Griffindor.

"Sorry Weasley, my mistake" smirked Malfoy amid the laughter of the boys behind him.

"Err" said Nessy, "What exactly are you talking about?"

"Your father, moron, ring any bells?" said a skinny Slytherin Nessy recognized as Zabini.

"Yeah," said Nessy, her face slowly inching it's way toward the color of her young uncle's "And what exactly do you know about my father?"

"Oh" said Malfoy, pulling a paper from the hands of someone in his group "So he's not 'the foremost dealer of top secret information' who 'worked for only the most powerful wizarding organizations and was said to have predicted the Gregorovich killings down to the very day and victims?' because that's what the paper's been saying about him."

Nessy took a moment to digest this, allow the redness to drain from her face along with the majority of her blood, and try to grasp back through her history of magic lessons for some recollection of what the Gregorovich killings were.

Her moment taken, She lunged forward and tore the paper out of Malfoy's hand, just as Snape rounded the corner.

"Ten points from Griffindor, Thrower, and give that prophet back to Draco." he snapped.

For a second, Nessy looked rebellious, her crinkled prize clutched to her chest, but Harry got to her before she could open her mouth. He kneed her in the back, causing her to stumble a step towards Malfoy, at whom she scowled and handed the Prophet.

"Subtle, Potter, that will be another five points" sneered the potions master, as he swept past them into the classroom.

"I swear," muttered Harry as they unloaded their ingredients from their bags, "that slimy git hides around the corner, and just waits for the most incriminating moment to pop out and take off points. His timing is too perfect."

"Yeah," agreed Ron as Neville gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of Snape creeping around the halls watching them "Its quite brilliant actually, leave Slytherins and Griffindors alone in front of a locked door long enough there are bound to be some disturbances he can blame on us"

"Well if you believe that" said Hermione "Then why do you continue to take the bait?"

"Because if we don't, then Malfoy wins" said Ron as if it were obvious.

"You've got a skewed view of winning-"

"SO GUYS" Nessy interrupted in an unnecessarily loud voice, which made a few people at other tables look around, "Any of you read the paper today?"

Neville shifted nervously in his seat, and Nessy immediately focused her eyes on him.

"I thought you knew!" he squeaked before her gaze "you looked so down this morning!"

"I was tired this morning"

"How was I supposed to know that!"

"All in all though," interposed Harry "You seem to be taking it rather well. Compared to how you acted last night..." he trailed off.

Nessy frowned a little at this. She was even reacting better than she expected. And after such a crappy morning too. It was almost as if...

_It cheered me up? _She thought to her self, bewildered.

_Because something is finally happening,_ another voice answered _It's changing._

Suddenly, Nessy felt full of life. She needed this, she needed _a plan._

The rest of class seemed to blur to her, and she barely caught Neville before he added the botruckle legs too early, and she almost forgot to smile at Snape as he passed by her potion without comment. She intended to find out what he would begin to do if he realized she took no criticism as a complement.

The bell rang just when she was sure she was going to beat her head open if she tried to think anymore. Ah. It seemed it wasn't only Snape that had perfect timing in this school.

Her friends watched with slightly confused amusement as she energetically stuffed everything into her cauldron with a hurried confession that she'd left something in her dormitory.

"Are you all-?" called Neville as she rushed out the door.

"Fine!" she called over her as she whisked by Malfoy, crunching the now quite tattered newspaper out of his hand.

She got to the dormitories in record time, and no breath as she dumped her bag on the floor and collapsed on her four poster.

"Fate! Fate, Come on I know you can hear me. Come here for a second okay?" she called out into the still room.

There was silence for a minute that seemed to go for hours and then-

"This is the girls dormitory." said a matter of fact voice to her left. "Am I supposed to be in the girls dormitory?"

"Who cares? I'm glad that worked, I wasn't sure it would." she said as she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

"Thats not what you said when you were calling me"

"What are you talking about?"

"You said 'I know you can hear me' and that's a quote. There wasn't much doubt it would work then"

"Well- you know what it doesn't matter. Sorry, I lied. Now, what I called you here for is this: we need a plan."

"Who needs a plan?"

"You know, I was in a really good mood when I called you, but that moment seems to have past. All right, if you really want me to say it _I_ need a plan. And _I _need you to just sit there as I bounce ideas off you."

"This doesn't seem necissar-"

"SIT DOWN!" Nessy was on her feet now, glaring down at the mousy boy who reluctantly took a seat.

She began to pace back and forth along the length of the bed, with Fate's eyes watching her, just going back and forth.

"Allright, allright. I thought about this a little, and the main problem isn't the Horcruxes anymore. We know where those are. We can get them all without too much hoopla. We'll get the diary next year, it'll be in my Mums book. The locket is in Grimald place, we can get that when we get Sirius out..." Nessy stopped her pacing cold "Oh Shit! I forgot about Sirius! He's innocent rotting away in Azkaban-"

"If you want me to offer you advice" said Fate cooly "deal with the grand picture before you do the details. If the Horcruxes aren't the problem what is?"

Nessy paced twice up and down the bed before she answered. "It's killing Voldemort. It took my dad's life to kill him last time, and that's what I came back to prevent. And if it really was the pain of my mother's loss that killed Voldemort, then he wont have that either if all goes well. So how? Kill him as a spirit? How do we kill something half dead? If he's in that form, will he die as soon as we get all the Horcruxes? If he doesn't, how do we find him? Too many variables!" She sat down hard on the bed.

Now it was Fates turn to stand. He paced along Nessy's footprints before she noticed and stood up again to switch places. Fate lay back and spoke "Lets narrow the search then. If the issue is just finding the guy, you've got the advantage right?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you know where he's gonna be right? This is the advantage of future knowledge. When did your dad first meet him again?"

"First year, no good, too early, and the whole 'how to kill a spirit thing' comes up."

"I'd take your chance on the spirit as opposed to the full powered Dark Lord any day" contributed Fate 'helpfully' "when does he next meet him? Second year right?"

"No, that's a horcrux"

"Gottcha"

"No, no, no, this is no good, the next time he meets him is fourth year, and he only got away cause of luck, there's no way he could win."

"Couldn't we train him?"

"Besides that requiring us to tell the truth, whose supposed to teach him, me? And there's only so much information you can cram into someones head in a few years. And it doesn't add up to the amount needed to kill Voldemort"

"So how about people he killed between now and then, where did those happen?"

"I think he killed some old man in the Riddle House sometime during the summer after third year, but-" Suddenly, Nessy had stopped dead.

"What?"

"He doesn't have to beat Voldemort."

"Have you gone completely mad?"

"No, no, hear me out, there is a point, during fourth year, when Voldemort is neither spirit, nor living. He gets this weird baby lizard body thing, my dad told me about it. He said Wormtail put it in the potion to bring him back to life, and my father remembered hoping it would drown."

"But it didn't, we know this."

"But the point is, from when Harry arrives in the graveyard, till that potion is complete, Voldemort is at his weakest, and he is only guarded by his most cowardly pathetic follower. With four years, we could destroy the Horcruxes, and I could tell Harry what to expect, and all he'd have to do is be able to duel and beat Voldemort's weakest death eater.

"It'll be over before fifth year"

Fate smiled, and stretched out on the bed "Guess you don't need me anymore" and the room spun as the brown haired boy disappeared in a gentle whisper. 

That wasn't too short. I don't feel guilty asking for reviews.

Ta.


	14. Of Halloween

Nessy let the mixture of excitement and surprise at both her new purpose and Fate's abrupt exit escape her body in a shudder that stretched all the way down to her toes. With a tired sigh, she allowed herself to fall backwards onto her fourposter, her head draping over the opposite side so that she viewed the world upside down. Something about the blood rushing to her head calmed her.

_I'm nowhere near done _ she reminded herself _I don't have the luxury to feel relieved yet._ But she couldn't help it. Compared to that morning, when she felt like she was trying to grasp at a penguin slicked with Crisco for all the good she was doing, laying here on her bed with the solid bones of what looked to be a solid plan floating in her head made her feel like she could reach out and touch a new future.

She even smiled a bit as the unmistakable tapping of a rebellious pineapple reached her ears. After all, she reasoned, it might be a vindictive little dicot but it was pretty funny.

She swiveled her head toward the source of the noise, only to see a bright orange, upside down jack-o-lantern face bearing down at her.

"Wahhh!" Nessy yelled, nearly falling off the bed.

The grin etched into the Halloween themed pineapple grew just the tiniest bit more evil looking.

"Oh SHOOT!" Nessy continued from her precarious position, staring down at the fruit "The feast!"

And with that, she grappled her way ungracefully off the bed, and skidded down the stairs and out of the portrait hole.

Her sprint lost momentum only a few hallways away from the great hall. She stopped to catch her breath, leaning on the wall next to a door with the key in the lock.

It was the girls bathroom. Somewhere within she could hear a faint sniffling. _Strange,_ she thought_ this isn't Moaning Myrtle's Toilet._

With a cautious frown on her face, she opened the door and poked her head around the corner. There were a pair of feet in one of the stalls, and from the noise, it definitely sounded like someone was crying.

"Hello?" She ventured.

"G-Go away!" Replied a croaky voice that was nonetheless familiar.

"Hermione? Whats wrong?" said Nessy in a quiet voice.

"N-nothing! Go away!"

"I'm sorry Hermione, I just don't believe you." Nessy slipped into the stall next to the sobbing girl's. "I promise I won't tell anyone"

There was a pause in which the ripping of toilet paper could be heard followed by a blowing nose.

"It w-was Malfoy!" Hermione's voice trembled a little "Ron and I were arguing, and when he left, M-Malfoy told me Ron hates me 'cause I'm a- a-" She dissolved again into tears.

"Well" said Nessy "You're not even done with your story and I can already spot some huge holes in your logic. The first of all, Ron doesn't even come close to hating you. After all, without you who else would he have to fight with?" Nessy paused a bit to see if she could get even the tiniest of chuckles, but the sniffling continued, "Anyway, nothing Malfoy says is worth taking into consideration. Or do you believe what he said about Harry only hanging around me because of my father?"

Hermione hiccuped "No..."

"What did he call you anyway?"

"mudblood" whispered Hermione through the stall wall.

Nessy snorted "Wear it with pride, Hermione. Because it doesn't mean anything except that Malfoy's a prat."

"Th-Thank you!" wailed Hermione breaking out in fresh tears.

"Anytime, I'm half-mudded myself" Nessy stated "Haw Haw Haw, what a terrible pun."

But something was strange. She remembered something about Ron barfing up slugs the first time Malfoy called Hermione a mudblood. Yeah, thats right, she'd been crying in the bathroom some other day, what was that?

Nessy's eyes opened twice the usual amount.

Halloween.

"Hermione! We've got to get out of here!"

"What?!?"

"We've got to leave, now! Wait... What was that?"

Nessy's heart dissolved into icy water and leaked down to the pit of her stomach. The door had just clicked. It was too late.

"Get against the wall! Quick!" she yelled, not a moment too soon. A gigantic spiked club swung down and ripped all the doors off the stalls. Hermione's scream pierced the air over the crash.

"Hermione!" Nessy yelled, scrambling through the wreckage of the wall that once separated them. Luckily, the troll seemed to have confused itself with it's own destruction, and was now knocking random sinks off the wall as it grappled clumsily toward it's prey.

"Hermione!" screamed Nessy again, shaking the fear struck girl violently.

_Please, _she thought,_ Please get here like you did the first time. Please help me... Dad!_

The door flew open and three first year boys crashed in, every bit as pale as Hermione.

"Confuse it!" Harry said desperately to Ron, and seizing a tap, he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.

The troll turned, blinked, and went for Harry instead. Neville scrambled forward and tried to make his way around the troll, but couldn't while it faced that direction.

"Oy, pea-brain!" yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, hurling a metal something at the beasts shoulder. It didn't seem to feel the impact, but it reacted to the yell, and started towards Ron instead.

Harry and Neville ran to where Nessy was trying disparately to move Hermione.

"Come on, run, RUN!"

They all grabbed an arm and began trying to hoist her out of there, but the troll was closing in on Ron, and he had nowhere to go.

"Get her out of here!" yelled Harry, and with a running leap, he thrust his arm around the trolls neck, and subsequently his wand up it's nose.

They all watched in horror as the troll flailed its club wildly trying to dislodge the short skinny eleven year old he was reluctantly giving a piggy back ride.

Nessy dropped Hermione's shoulder, leaving Neville stumble under the weight.

"DO SOMETHING!" she screamed desperately at Ron, who lifted his wand and screamed the first spell that came into his head.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!_"

The rest was vague to Nessy. She would recall the stunned silence that followed the troll's fall, and someone might have asked if it was dead, but once the teachers arrived, all that she could do was stare at Quirrel, fear leeching out of her as he sat as if faint upon a toilet. She would be less afraid, she thought at that moment, of a Voldemort alone, powerful, and angry, than she was of the meek shell that contained him, staying perfectly in character as he surveyed the damage he had done.

They were all that much closer, as they walked back up to the common room, but Nessy didn't feel it as much as the rest. She could hardly consider them closer than she had before she'd even come to this time.

They ate their food together, nothing different than usual. But somehow Nessy couldn't help but think it was a little closer to the way it felt before. Back when they were family for real. Maybe... Maybe she could really have that again.

Nessy stayed up late that night.

Into the stillness of an empty common room, she spoke a name.

"Fate."

A pair of feet appeared on the arm of her chair, and she followed them up to see the boy she wanted sitting on the back of her chair.

"Did you interfere?" she asked cautiously.

"Hm?" grunted the boy staring into the fire.

"Malfoy didn't say that last time. Did you do it, or was it just chance? Did you make the troll happen again?"

"I believe Quirrel let the troll in."

"So it wasn't you?"

"I didn't say that. I just don't want you to start blaming me for everything." Fate sighed, eyes still flickering with the flames in the hearth. "I can't do absolutely anything you know. I'm not God. I keep fate in line really. I couldn't fate the world to suddenly reside in peace. Believe me, I've tried. Prophecies don't hold power over people. They merely say what will happen. What happens still has to have a reason. The people involved still have to decide to play their parts. I have limited powers, so subtle as to be barely perceptible. I encouraged this to happen again. But Quirrel still let the troll in. and Malfoy insulted Hermione. And Hermione got upset all on her own. It was simple enough I could curve it to happen as I hoped, but don't expect me to be able to do everything. Most of what is to come must be influenced years before it is to come for any real effect to happen."

"Why is that?"

"Because this world is like a frayed, gigantic, very confusing knot."

"I'm not sure I understand. I didn't need to hear this you know. You could have just said 'yes' to my question and gotten on with it."

"But you will need to know this.

You will"

Ta. Jesus Christ it's late.


End file.
